Post-Apocalyptic TRAVEL Survival Guide
by noparty4kitty
Summary: 8 years ago, Stella found herself seeking refuge from the ZA with other survivors in a storage facility and figured she would've been content to spend the rest of her life there, safe behind those walls. But here she is with Daryl, embarking on what could be the most dangerous adventure of her life: searching for her long-lost family. Rated M for potty-mouth and yummy Dixon smut.
1. Chapter 1

**….Aaaand we're back! I missed these two! This picks up right where my other story - Post Apocalyptic DATING Survival Guide - leaves off. I admit, this starts off a little slow-paced, but the action picks up around Ch 6. :)**

With the stereo blasting, wind in my hair, and gorgeous early fall day, it was easy to forget that we were embarking on what was very likely the dumbest adventure I could possibly have conceived. I glanced over at Daryl, his hands drumming on the steering wheel in time with the music. I stared out the back windshield of the truck and could barely make out the front gate of our home, the self-storage facility, shrinking in the distance. The excitement that I had felt mere moments ago had begun to congeal into a lumpy mass of dread in the pit of my stomach. Daryl must have sensed my change in mood because he put his hand on my leg.

"Don't forget: Zen. Gotta be Zen, Funny Girl," he tried to reassure me.

I sighed. His optimism about our mission was pretty surprising. Even though we'd only been together for about six months, I thought I had him pegged pretty well. But he was the one with all the confidence that we would find what we were looking for, not me.

The fool's errand we were running was an attempt to locate what was left of my family. The reason it was a fool's errand was because the world was currently populated largely by zombies and, according to Daryl, assorted egomaniacal whack jobs who were trying to take control of what was left of civilization. Putting my hand on Daryl's, I thought that if I was going to be undertaking this kind of insanity, he was probably the best person possible to have as company.

Eight years ago, when the Zombie Apocalypse first started, I, along with my best friend in the world Marie, managed to find ourselves at a self-storage facility where other survivors had taken refuge. I'd come to find out, as more refugees arrived and we heard their terrifying travel accounts, that we had gotten incredibly lucky to land with a group of strangers who weren't fueled by delusions of grandeur or even just general criminal interests. Those people very quickly became like family to us.

Eight years later, I got very lucky again (in multiple senses of the word!) when Daryl and his group showed up at our gate. After almost having resigned myself to spending the rest of my days alone, it shocked the hell out of me how quickly I fell for him. Well, within days, I had quite literally fallen for him - tripping and landing at his feet - but shortly thereafter, I was completely smitten. And speaking for Daryl, I would say the feeling was mutual.

So into this newfound bliss, a complication naturally had to arise. Daryl had managed to peel back the layers in which I'd wrapped my past, and allowed me to rediscover the fact that I was still desperately needing to find out what had become of my family. As the world started its rapid demise, my dad and my brothers were going to try to make it to the farm where I was living with my husband, Ty, and Marie. In late night conversations, Daryl and I figured that if they made it out, they would be somewhere between the farm and Lexington, where my family started out. We realized that we could make it there and back on one tank of gas, with some to spare.

We went back and forth for months, debating the pros, cons, and utter insanity of making the trip, and came out on the side of, "It's worth a shot." Even though gas was in extremely short supply, the town leaders decided they could spare it under the condition that we did some scavenging while we were out in the wider world. The people in town went out on scavenging missions from time to time, but after seven years within a distinct radius, there was not much left to pick.

And much to the chagrin of our friends at home, here we were, out on the road. Our route had us taking back roads, under the assumption that if my family had joined up with a group of survivors, it would be somewhere off the interstates. Besides, the interstates were generally pretty clogged with empty cars and assorted rubble left behind by humanity's mad dash to get the hell out of Dodge, wherever Dodge happened to be.

My farm was about twenty miles from the self-storage facility-turned-town where we were living, and so was within the fifty mile radius that we kept to when scavenging. It had been picked several times over, and I was grateful not to have to start off our journey by revisiting the horrific memories of what went down the day Marie and I left.

"So tell me 'bout your family again, since I'm gonna be meetin' them real soon," Daryl said, interrupting my thoughts. "Wanna make a good impression, 'specially on your daddy."

I smiled at him, marveling as usual that someone who looked like such a badass was actually so very sweet. "Oh, come on, I've told you all about them already."

"Tell me again. Maybe I forgot."

I knew he was just trying to take my mind off my anxiety, but I played along. "Well, Dad would be about fifty or so now. His name is Dominic, but everyone calls him Nic. He's...well, he's pretty fucking amazing. When Mom left us, he didn't even even stumble. He managed to work full time, keep us fed and clothed and all that, all the while making sure he didn't miss out on any part of us growing up. He was at almost every game, recital, play, or whatever that we were in." I smiled at the memory of Dad sitting out in the audience of my band concerts, cheering inappropriately loudly at the end of each song. I would have liked to crawl under my chair at the time, but now it just made me miss him even more.

Daryl looked over at me, as I'd fallen silent again. He took my hand and kissed it, and then asked, "So was he real hard on the boyfriends you brought home?"

I laughed. "Only if he liked them. If he's really polite to you, you'll know he's not a big fan. When he gives you shit, and especially if you can give it right back, you're in like Flynn."

"OK, it's a good thing if he gives me shit. Got it," he said, as if he was making mental notes. "How 'bout your brothers?"

I paused. My brothers were a little more complicated than my dad. But then I realized that Daryl had heard this all before, so it wasn't like anything I said would be a big surprise. "Henry is eighteen and Louie is twenty-one. Henry is complicated, but he is totally awesome." Thinking about him made me smile, too.

"Henry is the one who has, uh, autism, right?" Daryl sounded a little nervous even saying the word. We'd talked several times already about what Henry was like, but Daryl was still anxious about meeting him because, as he said, he'd never even _talked_ to anyone with autism before. I had reassured Daryl every time that it would be fine, and I was totally confident that it actually would be.

"Yeah, but he's pretty high-functioning. He does tend to get kinda fixated on certain things and will talk your ear off about it, if you let him. He doesn't like much physical contact, although sometimes he will totally surprise you with a big hug. He doesn't like to look people in the eye. He loves computers, legos, and the weather, especially tornadoes. He always said he was going to become a storm chaser." I stopped for a second to think, "I wonder what he's into now." I paused again. I was thinking about how Henry had worshipped Ty, and I was worried about his reaction when he found out Ty was dead. "I really hope he's OK. He always felt better when he had a routine to follow and changes to it stressed him out. I can't imagine how he dealt with all the shit that happened because of the outbreak." Daryl still had an uncomfortable look on his face, so I squeezed his hand. "Seriously, when you meet him, just be cool and let him make the first move. That shouldn't be too hard for you," I teased.

Daryl gave me that sexy half-grin that was one of the first things that drew me to him. Well, that and his smoking hot body and gorgeous face. _I must have built up some seriously good karma somewhere to have snagged this guy_. "OK, now what about Louie?"

I frowned. "Louie and I didn't really get along. He was always such a jerk to Henry. He blamed Henry for Mom leaving the second time. I mean, I guess that's why she left - because she was a fucking flighty-ass bitch - but it wasn't _Henry's_ fault." Mom had left us once when I was about five, and then returned when I was nine. She stayed a few years, long enough to have Louie and Henry. When Henry was about two, and she figured out he wasn't a "normal" kid, that was enough of an excuse for her to hit the road again. Even though Dad tried to get me to understand that Mom had bigger "issues" that caused her to abandon her family, I never did forgive her for leaving. I looked at Daryl again and saw a faintly bitter look on his face. I knew I didn't have to explain my animosity towards my mother. He was familiar with that feeling.

"Seven years is a long time. Maybe he's grown up," Daryl suggested.

"I guess we'll see," I sighed.

Looking out the window, I noticed that we were approaching the outskirts of a small town. I ran my finger down the route that Daryl had colored on our map, but whatever the town was, it wasn't big enough to merit a name on the map. As we got closer, Daryl slowed a bit, and my stomach clenched up again. We both kept our eyes peeled for any sign of human inhabitants, but there was nothing. No sign of life - or the living dead - at all. We quickly passed through, and Daryl sped up a little. The roads were in pretty bad disrepair so driving involved a lot of dodging potholes, which meant we kept to about thirty-five miles an hour, even on the open stretches. So far, the constraint didn't seem to be bothering Daryl, at least not yet.

I realized that the CD we were listening to had started over, so I flipped through the small pile of other CDs that we had managed to scrounge up before we left. "Um, so do you want to hear Guns 'N' Roses, Hank Williams, or the Pixies?"

"What I'd like," Daryl replied, "is t'hear you sing somethin'."

"Just...sing something? I don't have my guitar or anything," I protested.

"Don't matter. I wanna hear that song you sang for me back at the party a coupla months ago."

"Seriously? You make me sing that for you all the time."

"Hey, no girl's ever written a song for me b'fore. Can't help it if I like ta hear it a lot." He was grinning as he said that.

I made a big production of sighing but then cleared my throat and did as he asked. When I got to the last line: _I need you to mend my heart_, he said, "Love ya, Funny Girl."

"Love you, too, babe," I replied and and went ahead and put the Hank Williams CD in so I wouldn't have to be Daryl's personal jukebox. Then I leaned my head contentedly against the open window frame, letting the wind blow my through my hair. A short time later, we started seeing some decrepit houses again, as opposed to fields of grass and wildflowers. A rusty signpost announced that we were entering "niont". I looked again at the map. "Uniontown," I told Daryl, unnecessarily. He slowed the truck again, and again my stomach twisted into knots. I wasn't sure what I was most nervous about: finding my family, not finding my family, or finding a colony of walkers. Probably all of the above.

We turned off the state road we'd been on, onto Main Street. Once again, I searched for movement or any indication that people were living there. Daryl brought the truck to a stop in the middle of the road, and I glanced over at him, alarmed. "What are you doing? Did you see something?"

"Hey darlin', relax. I haven't seen nothin' yet, but I think we should go for a look-see." He got out of the car and popped open the cap on the truck bed. He slung his crossbow over his shoulder and grabbed my hatchet. Seeing me still rooted to my seat in the cab, he called through the open back window, "Well, c'mon. Get out 'n' stretch your legs. Feels good to stand up. And don't forget the .38."

Reluctantly, I popped open the glove box and took out the pistol. Slowly, I walked back to where Daryl was waiting for me and traded him the gun for the hatchet. "Aw, don't look so glum. Where's your sense of adventure?" he chided me.

I had had very little contact with the world outside the gates of our little town since I'd settled there. I was quite comfortable within its confines as I knew what to expect and had the reassurance of guards patrolling the perimeter 24/7. So it was safe to say that my sense of adventure, if I ever really had one, was in hibernation, if not completely dead. I just gave Daryl a look that said it all and fell in step behind him.

Every unexpected noise made me jump. When we disturbed a bird who was nesting in the doorway of an abandoned storefront, I about shit myself. Try as he might, Daryl wasn't able to hold back a laugh, and he got a punch in the arm for it. My muscles were coiled, my hands were sweating, and I expected at any minute a flood of walkers would storm through the door behind us. I backed into a half-empty rack of yellowed greeting cards and sent it clattering to the floor, letting out a shriek of surprise. Daryl turned with a smirk, but when he saw the expression of abject terror on my face, his face softened. He grabbed my shaking hands. "Hey, shhhh...calm down, darlin'. Look at me." I forced myself to look into his amazing blue eyes, my face warm with embarrassment. "Have I ever let anythin' happen to you?" I shook my head mutely. "Do ya trust me that I'll keep you safe?" I nodded. "OK, well there ya go. No worries." I was still shaking like a leaf, so he wrapped me in his arms for a minute. I couldn't help but feel better after that. I got a quick kiss from him and then he let go and looked around what was left of the store.

There was a tremendous amount of dust and cobwebs. Clearly mice and birds had taken over now that people were gone. The shelves had been picked over, and there wasn't a whole lot left of value. It seemed like the place had been a junk shop back in the day, and what was still left behind definitely fit the description of "junk." Daryl, however, was inspecting the joint like a detective. "Someone's been through here recently."

"How the hell can you tell that?" I asked incredulously.

He motioned for me to come over. "Look," he said, pointing to a layer of dust on the shelf.

"What am I looking at?"

"Stuff was taken off this shelf not too long ago. There's no dust here and here." He pointed to a couple of places where there was a clear outline where things had obviously been removed in the recent past.

My pulse quickened, and I felt hope surge through me. I had no way of knowing if whoever took the stuff was my family or had seen them, so I tried to tamp down my enthusiasm a little. Struggling to keep my voice even, I asked, "How long ago, do you think?"

"Eh, hard t'say exactly. I think we should leave one a' your notes, though." Before we had left, we had written the same message on about a million sheets of paper, so that we had a "calling card" to leave to let my family know we were looking for them. Forgetting my fear for a second, I dashed back out to the truck and grabbed a sheet from my backpack. Back in the store, I looked around for a conspicuous place to leave the note, settling on the front window. I didn't have any tape or anything like that, so I slid the edge of the paper in between the wood and the glass at eye level. The note read:

_My name is Stella, and I am looking for my father and brothers:_

_-Dominic (Nic) - 52 years old, approx 6 ft tall, brown hair, brown eyes_

_- Louie - 21 y.o., red hair, brown eyes_

_- Henry - 18 y.o., red hair, blue eyes, high-functioning autistic_

_If you have seen them, plz leave any info re: their whereabouts. If you are one of them, first of all, I am alive & well! Second of all, leave a note re: where you are & don't go anywhere. We will be back this way within a week._

We went on to explore the few other shops in the town, and there were more signs that people might be nearby. I wanted to plaster the town with my notes, or maybe go farther off the main road to look for them, but Daryl reminded me that this was just the first stop of many and we had no way of knowing where those people might be, so we had to just stick to the original plan. When we were ready to leave, I went back to each place where I left a note, just to make sure they hadn't fallen or otherwise slipped out of sight. Daryl indulged me, but I could tell he was getting antsy to get back on the road.

"Hang on, I gotta pee," I told him and slipped around the corner to take care of my business. A minute later, I came back around and was face to face with the nastiest, foulest, rotting-est walker I'd seen in ages. I reached desperately for my hatchet, only to discover I had left it with Daryl. Before I could even let out a shriek of alarm, the hatchet was lodged in the zombie's head and it collapsed at my feet, revealing Daryl behind it. "What'd I tell ya 'bout trusting me?" As he reached down to yank the hatchet out of the walker's skull, he said, "But it'd do ya some good t'keep this on you."

My excitement about the possibilities the day had hinted at completely deflated, and I ducked my head sheepishly as I took the hatchet from Daryl. "Yeah, sorry. That was stupid of me." Dejected, I climbed into the truck.

Daryl climbed in behind the wheel and put the key into the ignition. He paused before he started up the truck. "Look, Funny Girl, I know it's hard but ya gotta keep your head on straight _all the time_," he said gently. "It's been a long time since you've been on the road, so I get it. But ya can't get carried away is all. 'Member, I promised your friend Mouth that I'd bring ya back in one piece. I _know_ I don't wanna get on her bad side."

He succeeded in making me smile, especially since he used his very apt nickname for Marie. "Yeah, she'd probably rip your head off and play soccer with it."

Daryl started up the engine, and we pulled away. Just in time it seemed, because several more walkers came shambling up the road, as if they knew there was fresh meat available.

**I might not be updating quite so often because I've got something else I'm working on right now, but I will try not to go too long between chapters.**


	2. Chapter 2

**sexytimes with Daryl and Stella & a potential lead**

By nightfall, we had stopped at two more towns and encountered several more zombies, but didn't see any signs of humans nearby. Happily, I was able to redeem myself by taking down a few walkers, so I didn't feel like quite such an idiot any more. I knew I wasn't "tough" by any stretch of the imagination. I had spent very little time out on the road after the ZA, and even in the early days, our compound was fairly safe. We had some trouble with walkers from time to time, but the fence around the storage facility was pretty handy at keeping them out. There were some whack-jobs that came through, but there were always more of us than them, so we either sent them packing or in the case of some, they left us no choice but to kill them. The more I thought about it, the more I wished we'd just killed all of them. Cleaning up the dregs of humanity for the good of the order.

Despite all this, I was trained to defend myself. That was part of our regular drills in town - defense against walkers. Children to senior citizens, everyone knew how to use a weapon, real or makeshift. I guess I was just rusty. I had a feeling that would wear off pretty quickly out here.

We had found an abandoned house that we were going to stay the night in, but I just couldn't get comfortable with the idea. We swept the place, and there was no sign of any walkers, but I still felt like one was going to pop out and surprise us at any second. Much to Daryl's dismay, I asked if we could just sleep out in the truck. We had brought sleeping bags for just such an occasion, but it still promised to be pretty cramped. Sleeping under a locked truck cap just made me feel much more secure. Daryl grumbled about it for a few minutes, but let it go.

I quickly changed out of my clothes into a t-shirt and shorts, and Daryl kind of laughed at me. "Y'know there's no one here t'see you, right?" I shrugged because I couldn't shake the feeling that there were a million eyes watching me from the darkness around us. "Well, 'sides me." He grinned and pulled me to him, kissing me. As terrifying as this whole experience had been for me so far, Daryl seemed exhilarated by it. I kissed him for a minute, but I was definitely not into it, so I just crawled into the back of the truck.

Daryl slid in behind me. "Baby, you need to relax," he purred in my ear. I felt his tongue slide along my earlobe and then down into the curve of my neck, and I pretty quickly forgot all about my anxiety. "Take your shirt off," he growled, and I did. He gently pushed me so I was laying on my stomach and began to run his calloused fingers up and down my back. I shivered with pleasure. I reached my hand out and started to run it down his stomach, but he grabbed it and said, "Don't." Then he told me to get naked, so I did. He continued to run his fingertips lightly, now over my ass and the backs of my thighs. The warm feeling in the pit of my stomach continued to grow, and I rolled over to face him. I put my hand on the back of his head to pull him in to kiss him, but he resisted, putting his fingers over my lips. "Stop." This was part of our game.

I grinned at him and caught one of his fingers between my teeth, and then sucked on it. The smirk on his face morphed into an expression of surprise and pleasure. Staring him in the eyes, I slowly took his finger out of my mouth and pressed it between my legs. As my breath came in gasps and my nails dug into the back of his neck, he growled, "I wanna hear you scream." But when I came, all I could manage was a strangled cry.

Then it was my turn. I pushed him onto his back, and he quickly shed his clothes. I straddled him, and both of us let out a small groan as I slid him into me. He asked quietly, "Is this OK? Y'know, with the schedule and stuff?" I just nodded. He tried to put his hands on my waist, but I pushed them over his head. "No," I told him. I slowly _slowly_ began to move on top of him, and he struggled to keep his hands to himself. Every time, I would push them back down. But then the pace picked up, and we were both gasping and moaning and grunting, hanging onto to each other for dear life. And then we were done, left lying in a tangled heap.

As I lay there on my back with my eyes closed, his voice was in my ear again. "What was it you were so worried 'bout, now?"

I smiled contentedly. "I don't remember."

"Damn straight." In short order, I could hear his breathing even out, and he was asleep.

As usual, even after all that exertion, my thoughts kept me awake. Because birth control didn't exist any more, we were, like many others in the same situation, forced to resort to "natural family planning." We were both well-aware that it wasn't even close to reliable - I mean, our friends Maggie and Glenn were a perfect example. They were currently back at home with a two-month old (although it was pretty clear they had no regrets.) But it was either this or don't have sex, and clearly _that_ was not an option. So every time we did it, I would lay awake, recalculating in my head, counting back the weeks and such, and saying a little prayer to whatever god might be out there: _please not this time_.

Daryl reached out an arm and pulled me close so that I was curled up against him. I suddenly realized how chilly it had become, and his body was pleasantly warm against mine. I grabbed the other sleeping bag and pulled it over us, and then finally fell asleep.

0000000

The next morning we were treated to a walker wake-up call. I caught their nasty, rotted smell before I heard them, and when I opened my eyes, I saw them pressed up against the windows of the truck. We were both still naked, and on instinct I pulled the sleeping back up to my chin. I elbowed Daryl. "Walkers," I hissed.

He was awake and ready to rumble in a split second. He started looking around for his crossbow. "OK, you go through the window into the cab of the truck, and I'll-"

"Jesus, Daryl. Put some fucking clothes on first." I was trying to do the same, but it was a challenge in the cramped bed of the truck.

In a second, he had his jeans and boots on and was waiting on me to be ready. "You know this wouldn't've happened if-"

I cut him off, "_Don't_ say it." There was no time for pointing fingers. I was determined that I was going to quit being a liability in this adventure. "OK, so there's only three of them. You want me to go out through the truck, and you'll bust out through the back?"

"Stay in the truck. Just make some noise to distract 'em, and I'll come up behind."

I shoved my hatchet through the window into the truck cab and then was barely able to wriggle through behind it. I cracked the window and yelled at the top of my lungs, "Hey, you nasty motherfuckers! Hey! Over here!" The three walkers slowly turned and shuffled towards my end of the truck, and I quickly rolled up the window. Daryl burst out of the back, stabbing one in the head with a knife. As he approached the other, I saw my chance with the third and jumped out of the cab of the truck, thunking my hatchet into the head of that walker with a triumphant, "Hiiii-ya!"

We stood there, surveying the carnage and catching our breath. Daryl smirked at me. "Did ya really say, 'hii-ya?'"

Sheepishly, I shrugged my shoulders.

He chuckled. "Knew there was a warrior hidden somewhere inside ya." He stooped down to wipe the blood of his knife. "C'mon, let's hit the road. Gotta lot of ground to cover today."

Today, I was the pilot and he was the navigator. We were already pretty tired of the four CDs we had, so Daryl played with the radio to see if there we picked up anything besides static. I kept my eyes peeled for anything that looked worth exploring. About a half hour into the drive, we came upon a Dollar General. "You want to take a look around?" I asked.

"Sure."

I pulled into the parking lot, which held three cars that had clearly not moved in years. We peered into the windows to see if there might be anything worth salvaging, but there was nothing. After years of baking in summer sun and then freezing in the winter cold, everything inside of cars were bleached gray. One of them contained the skeleton of what appeared to be an adult, with a child-sized one in the carseat in the back. I stood there for a second, staring, but Daryl grabbed my hand. "Can't get caught up in that. You'll get used to it soon 'nough."

The minute we pushed through the doors of the store, we realized we weren't alone. Hands on our weapons, we crouched down behind a shelf. We slowly realized that what we were hearing was the unmistakable sound of people having sex.

I was embarrassed for them, even though they clearly didn't know we were even there. "Should we just go?" I whispered.

Daryl grinned. "Doncha wanna talk to 'em to see if they've seen your family?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Daryl made a move like he was going to announce our presence, but I stopped him. "Wait, let's just go outside and wait for them to come out." He reluctantly agreed, but I could tell he didn't want to waste time waiting around. We quietly went back outside and leaned against the truck. It was another beautiful day, so we basked in the fall sunlight, snacking on some trail mix to pass the time.

A few minutes later, when we saw who it was who had been having some mid-morning delight in the dollar store, it was Daryl's turn to be uncomfortable. Actually, he was downright squicky and shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot as we watched two teenage boys emerge from the store. I couldn't help it; I laughed out loud at Daryl, and the boys stopped dead in their tracks.

One of them looked like he would like to make a run for it, but the other brandished a baseball bat at us. "Jesus, Marco, get it together!" Baseball Bat Kid hissed at the other boy, who pulled a knife out of his belt and promptly dropped it on the ground.

Daryl was obviously completely dumbfounded because for once in his life, and just stood there with his mouth slightly agape. I rolled my eyes and took over. Raising my hands over my head, I told them. "Hey, we aren't here to cause any trouble. We're just looking for some people. Do you guys have a minute?"

Marco smiled, but the other boy eyed us suspiciously. "You can come closer, but your dude needs to stay put."

I looked over at Daryl who had recovered some. He nodded at me to go ahead, but made a big show of putting an arrow in his crossbow so that they knew not to try anything. I walked towards them, my hands still in the air. "I'm Stella, and that's Daryl. What are your names?" I asked, smiling. The kid called Marco still looked like he might pee his pants.

The suspicious kid glared at me, but offered that he was Felix and his friend was Marco. "What do you want?" he demanded.

I felt so bad for Marco that I had to say, "I don't give a shit about what you were doing in there," but that made both of them look mortified. So I continued, "Aaanyway, I'm looking for my dad and my brothers, Nic, Louie and Henry Marshall. Do those names ring a bell?" Both boys shake their heads. I describe them a little, but there's still no look of recognition on their faces. Finally, I say, "Henry has autism, so he would probably have been acting a little...strange."

Marco nods suddenly. "I think I remember them!" My heart leaps. "But it was a long time ago." My heart sinks a little. "I was only eleven or twelve, I think. It was before you got here, Felix."

"How old are you now?" I ask.

"Eighteen."

"So six or seven years," I sigh. They could be anywhere by now. "Are you guys on your own, or do you have a group? Maybe someone there would remember some more details about where they were headed."

There was a pause as Marco and Felix exchanged a look, and then Felix replied, "Yeah, there is a group, but I'm not sure if they'll be too happy with us bringing strangers back with us."

I glanced back at Daryl, who was watching our exchange like a hawk. "OK, you guys discuss this amongst yourselves for a second. I'm going to let Daryl know what's up. Be back in a sec." I walked back over to our truck. "Well, the black kid, Marco, remembers someone fitting Henry's description, but it was years ago, and he was pretty young so he doesn't remember much more about it. They don't seem real keen on taking us back with them." We watched them argue for a second, and then seem to come to an agreement.

The boys approached us, and Daryl tensed up. "Seriously, they're just kids. Relax," I whispered to him. He didn't seem convinced but he did set the crossbow down.

"All right, you guys can come back, but you need to let us go first and explain what's up to David. He's the leader of our...group," Felix explained. "You got a piece of paper and a pencil?"

Daryl leaned into the truck to get Felix what he requested, and, I shit you not, both guys _totally_ checked out his butt. I couldn't help but grin at them because it really _was_ a damn fine ass. And that seemed to break the ice. Felix and Marco both visibly relaxed and Daryl turned back around to all of us trying to swallow our smiles. He glared at us. "What the fuck are y'all grinnin' about?"

I just shook my head. "Nothing." I took the pencil and paper and handed it to Felix, who expertly drew out a map to their compound.

He handed the map to me and said, "Give us about an hour. Once of us will be at the entrance to let you know if you can come in or not."

Marco looked like he had something more to add, but then changed his mind. Reconsidering, he said, "Um, the living situation there is a little...weird. It's pretty much David, buncha women, and kids."

I raised an eyebrow, but Daryl just shrugged. "I seen worse." The boys headed off down the road, leaving me and Daryl by ourselves again. "Well, we might as well see if there's anything left in the store worth taking."

As we walked back into the store, I couldn't resist the urge to lay into him a bit about his obvious discomfort with the boys. "So Mr. Daryl Dixon is a homophobe," I teased. I had a feeling that he wasn't really. I figured he was like most of the other guys I've ever known - ok with homosexuality in theory, but squicked out when face to face with it.

"I ain't a fucking homophobe," he grouched. "It's just...weird, especially because, y'know, they're kids and all."

"From what you've told me, you were no virgin at eighteen, that's for damn sure." We were in the store, and there was really not much to see. The shelves were almost entirely empty. "Oh hey, look, more CDs." I flipped through the dusty and faded pile. "So that's no excuse," I continued, back to his previous comment.

"Yeah...well...look, I grew up in fuckin' rural _Georgia_, for Chrissake. If anybody I knew was gay, I guess they realized it was better to keep it quiet." His voice got muffled as he poked his head into a back room. "Buncha boxes back here!" I followed him into the store room. "Not exactly a tol'rant buncha people where I was raised."

"Well, I like those guys," I volunteered. Grinning wickedly, I added, "And I have to say that they recognize a good-looking man when they see one." I wrapped my arms around him and put my hands on his ass.

Daryl went completely crimson at that, and I burst out laughing. "Fuck, what the hell'd you tell me that 'fore? Now I feel like some kinda pervert or somethin'!" He pulled out of my grasp and started tossing boxes around, muttering under his breath.

"Oh Jesus, it's not like _you_ were looking at _them_ or anything. And they _are_ technically adults. Take it as a compliment." I went to the other end of the stockroom and looked at the labels on the boxes. There weren't a whole lot left, and most of the ones that were there were on the highest shelves, so I had to crane my neck to see. Most of them appeared to be tchotchkes and knick-knacks that would be completely useless. "Are you finding anything worth taking?" Suddenly, I spotted some words on the side of a box that made me feel like I'd found the fucking Holy Grail: _Tampax_. "Holy fucking shit, Daryl, come here! I need a boost!"

He came running, and when he saw what I was pointing at so excitedly, he laughed, despite being annoyed with me. "Oh, you're gonna be the most popular girl in five counties when you come home with those."

In our current situation, people in our town had come up with many new ways to do things that were almost as good as how they were done previously. We were able to generate some small amounts of electricity through solar and wind power. We had some fairly sophisticated medical "technology," given the circumstances. But as of yet, no one had created anything _close_ to a tampon in the convenience that it afforded women. I won't go into the gory details, but suffice to say, being on your period nowadays was a phenomenal pain in the ass.

"Come on! Gimme a boost!" I said excitedly. "I think I'll be able to reach it enough to knock the box down." Which I did. Tearing the box open, I felt like a kid on Christmas. Inside was truly a beautiful sight: twenty-four baby blue boxes packed neatly inside. "Holy shit, I may not be able to share these. I may have to sneak them back in with us and hoard them all to myself!"

Daryl was cracking up watching me. "That big box is gonna make it awful crowded in that truck, y'know."

"Fuck, I'll ride with it in my lap the whole time if I need to." I was seriously over the moon about this discovery.

"A'right, Funny Girl. Gimme your box of gold. We gotta go see about your new buddies." He closed the box back up and carried it out on his shoulder.

As we were leaving, I remembered something else. I ran back in and grabbed the CD I had found: Dire Straits' _Brothers in Arms_. "Thought you might like this." I handed it to him.

"Sweet." Daryl got behind the wheel again and put the CD in the player. It only took us about ten minutes to get to Marco and Felix's compound, the Shady Acres trailer park.

As we approached, I turned off the radio and looked warily at Daryl. "Do you think this is a good idea?"

We caught sight of Marco at the gate, giving us the thumbs-up. "Guess we'll find out soon enough," Daryl replied.


	3. Chapter 3

**...following up on the lead and some bad, bad weather hits. REVISED!**

Marco ran up to our truck, slightly out of breath and clearly nervous. "No cars allowed inside the gate, so you need to park the truck out here. And, um, no weapons allowed either."

Daryl did not look happy about that, but didn't look entirely surprised either. Even though no one was around, I quietly asked Marco, "Will we be OK?"

"Oh yeah, you won't need them here. As long as I've been here, I've never seen any kind of violence," he added when he saw the dubious look on my face.

I already trusted Marco, so his assurance made me feel better, but I was still nervous about what I might learn when I went inside. As we walked through the gate, a kid who couldn't have been more than twelve shut it behind us. I got a closer look at him, and my eyes widened at the machete that was hanging from his belt. I glanced over at Daryl, who had also noticed, but just shrugged.

Marco filled us in on how things operated here at Shady Acres. He sounded kind of embarrassed, as he explained, "So David is the leader here, and he has twelve...wives. He's pretty fair, makes sure everyone gets what they need. It's definitely better than some places I've been. We're all free to leave whenever we want, but really where else is there to go?" We walked down the main road, past rows of neatly kept trailers. "The wives all get their own trailer, and their kids stay there with them. His is the big one at the end of the road." He gestured towards the largest, nicest trailer of all of them.

"So where do you live?" I asked. I was getting the feeling that he didn't quite fit into the usual order here.

"Um, Me and Felix stay in that one at the end." He pointed to a small, ratty looking trailer at the edge of the compound. "Hey," he said, dropping his voice, "no one here knows about, um, you know, me and Felix, so..."

I smiled at him. _Poor kid_. "Don't worry. We're not going to say anything."

I looked at Daryl, but his mind was clearly on planning our escape, should it come to that. He surveyed the perimeter, eyeing the kids that were posted as guards along the perimeter. "So what's up with Peter Pan an' the Lost Boys up there?" he asked.

"Once you turn eighteen, you're sent packing, so they're the oldest ones. All us older guys aren't his kids; we all came in with our moms at different points. I guess he's afraid of the competition," he says, wryly.

"Oh, so you have to leave here?" The gears in my head started turning. Daryl immediately picked up on what I was thinking and shook his head slightly. _Not now__, _he mouthed_. _I frowned.

"Yeah, but I don't know where to go." Marco sighed. "And even if I did, I don't want to leave without Felix, but he still has a year left where he can stay. He doesn't want to leave without his sister; she's one of the wives. I don't know if David would try to force her to stay, but he sure as hell won't let their kid leave with her. It's all fucked up." He looked around, alarmed. "Crap, I hope no one heard me! Yeah, you guys should know: no swearing."

That got a laugh from Daryl. "Well, shiiit. Guess I'll just have to keep my fuckin' foul mouth shut then, won't I?" he said quietly.

Marco grinned at him. I smelled something absolutely delicious and suddenly realized I was starving. We hadn't eaten in a while. Marco must have noticed the ravenous look in my eyes because he let us know that we had been invited to lunch. "But he wants to meet you guys first." We had reached David's trailer, and Marco knocked on the door. "Brother David, the visitors are here to see you."

"Please bring them in, Son," came the voice from inside.

I nervously grabbed Daryl's hand as we walked in the door and was comforted that it was cool and dry, unlike my sweaty one. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but David looked very normal for a guy with twelve wives. Polo shirt, jeans, neatly trimmed beard, and glasses. He smiled broadly at us. "Please sit down." We did as he asked, but Daryl remained alert as ever. "You are Stella and Daryl, I gather."

"Yes, and thank you so much for agreeing to talk to us!" My words came out very quickly and a little too loudly.

"I hope I can be of service, my dear," David replied. "Marco said you are looking for several people?"

"Yes, my dad and my brothers. They might have passed this way on their way to find me. After the virus hit," I told him.

"I assume you're referring to God's wrath against humankind for our sins and degradation?" A fiery gleam came into David's eye.

I wasn't sure what to say in response to that comment. Daryl remained silent, his gaze fixed on David's face. I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Um, yeah, their names are Nic, Louie and Henry Marshall." I described them as best I could, again mentioning that Henry had autism, as that seemed to be what helped Marco remember him. Apparently, it was what David recalled, as well.

"Ahhh, yes. The poor boy." David stroked his beard. "I attempted to rid him of the scourge of God that was afflicting him, but to no avail."

"What?!" Daryl's hand clamping down on my knee was the only thing that kept me in my seat. I realized that now was not the time to piss this guy off, despite his clearly being a complete piece of shit. I took a deep breath and attempted to regain my cool. I cleared my throat. "So did they stay? Or do you remember where they were headed?"

David fixed me with a long stare, and then said, "No, they did not stay. And I'm sorry to say, I do not know where they were headed." His stare continued, and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "Are the two of you married?" he asked.

I was unnerved by his stare and caught off-guard by his question. "No," I replied, but judging from Marco's expression, that was the wrong answer.

Suddenly, Daryl spoke up. "Awww, baby! Why're ya doin' that to me? I said I was sorry!" I just stared at him, dumbfounded. He grinned conspiratorially at David. "We got in a lil fight earlier today, and she's gotta be such a drama queen 'bout it, tellin' people we're not married an' all." He gave David a _wives, amirite?_ wink and put his arm around me.

I had no words. David just raised an eyebrow. Marco was trying desperately not to laugh. Thankfully, we were interrupted by a tap at the door. A pretty young woman clad in a shapeless dress nodded at David and silently walked away.

"Um, do you think there is anyone else here who might remember my family? Maybe they heard something about where they were going?" I asked, attempting to be very unassuming in my request.

David frowned for a minute. Then he said, "Esther, my first wife, may remember something. You may talk to her." He stood up. "After we eat."

As we followed David outside, I hissed at Daryl, "If I find out he did _anything_ to hurt Henry, I'm going to come back and fucking strangle him with my bare hands."

We hung back to let the gap grow between us and David. "I'm sure Henry's fine," Daryl tried to reassure me. "An' don't forget to stay focused on what we're here for." In a low voice, he asked Marco, "So what's the deal with the guy? He some kind of Mormon or somethin'?"

Marco rolled his eyes. "I think he'd get pissed off if you called him that. He claims that he talks to God, and God is the one who told him he needs to repopulate the world with his followers. He says that God told him he needed to get a bunch of wives and multiply."

"So do you believe this stuff?" I asked Marco.

He laughed. "Uh, _no_. According to him, gays are also afflicted by a 'scourge,' but I'm smart enough to realize that's a load of bullshit. I'm just here because I've got nowhere else to go. Mom and I ended up here after trying to go it alone for about a year after the walkers took over. I was too young to realize what was up, and I was just happy to have a place where there was food and a place to sleep, and I didn't have to worry about being bit all the time. It's really exhausting on the road, you know?" Daryl nodded in agreement, and then Marco continued. "Mom was David's third wife, and I guess she didn't seem to mind it too much. David was a lot nicer to her than my dad was, and I guess that was how he convinced her that this whole multiple wives thing was what God wanted for them.

"And it wasn't a bad deal for a kid. There were a lot of moms to look out for me and a lot of kids to play with. Then Felix and his sister showed up a couple of years ago..." He didn't finish his thought, but from the smile on his face, I could tell the guy was smitten.

"So can we meet your mom?" I asked.

A shadow passed over his face, and he said, "No, she died a few years back. I'm not sure what it was, but she was real sick for a while. I guess maybe it was cancer? No way of knowing, though."

"I'm so sorry," I said.

He shrugged. "Kinda have to get used to death now, don't we? Can't really get away from it."

While the food was amazing, lunch was an odd affair. Tables were set out in a giant U and women and children filled in the seats with David at head. The only person who talked during lunch was David. Everyone else, down to the smallest child, silently ate whatever was on their plates, listening to David blather on. And blather he did. A classic fire and brimstone tale about how THE LORD was always watching, and how THE LORD had sent pestilence to destroy the world for its evils, and how THE LORD was rewarding David and his clan for their faith and adherence to his ultimate plan.

Daryl was clearly paying no attention, instead wolfing down as much food as possible. Clearly the jerky, fruit and nuts that we had packed as road food had not been cutting it for him. Despite how delicious everything was, I had to force bites into my mouth because I so wanted to give this asshat a piece of my mind. Back in my previous life, I had been studying to be a scientist, so to hear this guy feed these people such a line of fundamentalist bullshit made me livid. Daryl kept his hand firmly on my leg in an attempt to prevent me from making a scene.

Finally, the dishes were cleared away, and I heaved a sigh of relief that we would be rid of this place soon enough. But of course then there was a closing prayer which seemed to last hours. Daryl kept looking at the sky, and when I followed his gaze, I noticed a massive line of towering thunderheads building in the distance. _Uh oh_.

Marco came and collected us after lunch to take us to meet Esther. We approached another neatly kept trailer. There was a woman who looked to be in her 40s on the porch. "Sister Esther? There are some travelers who have come through, looking for a few people who were here some years ago. Can they ask you about them?"

"Yes, Marco. Come up and have a seat please," she directed us.

We all had a seat on the porch, and I went through my spiel again. She sat quietly for a few minutes. I couldn't tell if she was thinking or if she had drifted off somewhere in her head because she had a very blank expression on her face. As the silence stretched, I was about to just thank her for her time and call it a day, but then she suddenly spoke again. "The boys needed a mother. The father was not long for this world. He didn't want to leave them alone out there. They were so young."

I could feel a lump form in my throat. What did she mean about my dad? I wanted to jump in with more questions, but Daryl took my hand and I continued to listen to what she had to say in silence.

"My own children had died during the pestilence. I wanted so much to keep these boys, but the boy called Henry was suffering from a terrible affliction. He would not speak to us, he would not listen, he would not join us for prayers. David tried so hard to rid him of the demon..." She lapsed into silence for a minute.

_What the fuck did they do to Henry?_ Daryl sensed my anxiety and whispered, "Just listen, babe."

Esther picked up again. "The father was unhappy with David's actions. David determined that God was not with him or his children and sent them on their way." Her gaze was in her lap, and her eyes had tears in them. "I was so so sad to lose those boys. But it was God's will."

I couldn't stop myself. "That's bullshit."

Esther jerked her head up and stared at me long and hard. I was expecting a reprimand, or even to be sent packing, but all she said was, "Maybe so."

"Was Henry OK? Did David hurt him?" I blurted out. "And what about my dad? What was wrong with him?"

"David did not harm the boy. I can't say what was ailing your father." Esther replied.

Suddenly, Felix showed up to let us know dinner was ready. I had to ask one more question, "Do you know where they went? _Anything _that you can remember would help us a lot."

She was quiet again. "He said they were going to try to find Pegasus."

_What the fuck is Pegasus? _I wasn't sure if she was crazy or what, but clearly she was done talking with me. She stood silently and stepped down off the porch. I just sat there, trying to make sense of the information I'd just heard.

"C'mon, let's get the hell out of here," Daryl said. As Marco led us back to the gate, we ran into Felix with a young woman and a little boy. Marco introduced them as Marisol, Felix's sister, and Anjel, his nephew. Marisol looked to be in her early twenties, and her face showed that her life had not been very easy. She had this air of sadness and weariness about her. But she smiled broadly at Anjel, who was giggling like mad as Felix tickled him.

I had an idea. "Hey, does anyone have a pencil or something?" Marisol handed me one of Anjel's dull crayons. I still had the map that Felix had drawn for me earlier today, so I pulled that out of my pocket, and quickly sketched out a new one, to show the guys how to get to our home. Daryl frowned and took the crayon from me and made a slight correction and passed it back to me. I promptly handed the map to Marco. "If you need some place to go, this shows how to get to our compound. If we're not there, ask for Marie and tell her that Stella and Daryl sent you." Marco thanked us and stuffed the map into his back pocket. "Oh man, before we go, do you guys have bathrooms here?"

Daryl raised his eyebrow at me. "Really?"

"Dude, you have no idea how much easier it is for a girl if there's even just an outhouse, as opposed to squatting on the side of the road," I sighed. Marisol showed me to a row of outhouses. Once I was done, I headed back outside and was on my way back to Daryl when I was intercepted by another woman.

"David needs to speak to you before you leave," she told me. "He has remembered another important detail." I looked at her skeptically, and she continued. "He can tell you about Pegasus."

My inclination was to fetch Daryl and have him come with me, but then I heard a rumble of thunder. I figured it would be quicker for me to just go on my own, and then we'd hopefully be out of here before the rain came. As I followed the woman back to David's trailer, a light rain started. "So what's this about Pegasus?" I asked him, dispensing with all pretense of reverence.

David came towards me quickly, closing the door. Immediately, it became apparent that coming alone had been a very bad idea. "I have an offer for you." With no audience, he didn't bother with the pious act. "I can tell you where your brothers are if you do something for me."

I was 99% certain that I wasn't going to like what my end of the bargain would be, but he dangled the prospect of Dad, Henry and Louie out there and I was like a fish on a line. "What do you want?"

"You, naturally. I will bring your family here, and you all can live here together. You can be one of my wives." He smiled like this was a brilliant plan, not the creepiest thing anyone had ever suggested.

I forced a laugh. "Um, I don't think my _husband_ would be too thrilled about that."

David grabbed my face in his hand, pushing me up against the door. He chuckled, and it sounded exactly like what you'd expect from someone who'd lost his mind. "You are a _terrible_ liar. Nice try, though." He paused, leering at me, and then asked, "Just how much do you want to find your family?"

My heart was pounding, and I desperately scanned the room, looking for something within reach that I could use as a weapon. I spotted a pitcher that I thought I could grab, and while I slowly moved my hand towards it, I tried to distract David. "Well, maybe we could, I don't know, work something out? I can't really stay here or anything, but what would, uh, _one night_ with me, um, get me?" I felt his hand clamp down on my wrist, and now my heart nearly stopped. I opened my mouth to scream, but he clamped his other hand over it. I bit down as hard as I could, but the son of a bitch wouldn't let go. I could taste his blood in my mouth. Outside, I could hear the rain start to pour down. _Come on, Daryl, where are you?_

"I'm starting to think maybe you won't get anything. Here I am, trying to negotiate nicely with you, and you turn into a total bitch." He yanked my arm painfully over my head, pinning it against the wall.

That was it. I started thrashing and kicking like a cat in a bag, hoping to at least knock him off balance so I could make a break for it. Suddenly, there was the sound of breaking glass as a rock came through his window. Taking advantage of the confusion, I tore off out the door. Daryl was running up the porch steps, .38 in hand, his face murderous. "Come on!" I screamed at him. "We need to go _now_!" He was very obviously interested exacting some kind of revenge on David, but I was more interested in _getting the fuck out_. I could hear a ripple of confusion starting to spread, and I knew it wouldn't be long before the pint-sized goon squad came along. Clearly fighting every instinct he had, Daryl took off after me. Thankfully, the trailer park wasn't too big, so we were at the entrance in a minute. Marco was at the gate, waiting for us, and Felix was on top of the wall, pushing kids off before they got a chance to get a shot off at us.

"Oh my God, what happened?" Marco yelled at us. "I'm so sorry! It's my fault! I should have-!"

I shook my head. "No time for that. We've gotta go. Come to the storage facility. I'm serious." There were several walkers between us and the truck, and Daryl took those down in short order. In second, we were in the car, soaked to the skin. Daryl opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but I just said, "Get us the hell out of here," and he did.

Daryl asked tightly, "Did he hurt you?"

I just shook my head numbly. "No, I-I'm OK."

"I wish I'da killed that motherfucker right there," he growled, his voice strangled with fury.

I leaned my head on the window. "It's better that we were able to get out of there."

He slammed his hand into the steering wheel once, twice, and then continued to drive, seething silently. We were only able to make it about ten miles down the road before dark. The rain continued to pour down. The wind was blowing all sorts of debris in front of us, and several times we had to get out to move a fallen limb out of our path. Soaked and shivering, Daryl finally said, "This sucks. Let's just find someplace to stop an' call it a night."

As if on cue, we heard a tremendous crack and then there was a huge tree trunk directly in our path. Daryl tried to slow down, but with the wet road and the bald tires on the truck, we skidded out of control. The world spun as we slid off the road, down an embankment, and came to crashing halt in a ditch.

Once I realized we had stopped moving, I slowly opened my eyes. My shoulder was sore from where the seat belt had jerked me back. Moving my hands and feet, arms and legs, it seemed like everything was in working order. It was pitch dark, with just the glow of the dash for light, so I squinted to get a look at Daryl. "Hey, babe, are you OK?" He didn't respond, so I undid my seatbelt and slid over to him. "Daryl? Hey love?" I put my hand to his head and came away with blood, and that was precisely the moment when I began to panic. "Daryl, come on honey! Daryl, wake up!" _Fuck_.


	4. Chapter 4

**...Daryl and Stella get some help and then some. REVISED A TAD.**

Daryl was out cold. I started patting him on the cheek, gently first, and then gradually with a little more force. Finally, I just hauled back and slapped him across the face.

"Fuck, woman!" he groaned. "Whatcha hittin' me for?"

His bitching at me was the sweetest sound I'd heard in a long time. "Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me, love. Do you remember what happened?"

Daryl gave me a look like I was nuts. "Yeah, fuckin' tree nearly crushed us, and we slid off the road." He started looking around for a way to get out.

"Hold still," I chastised him. "Your head is bleeding." I wriggled into the back of the truck and grabbed the first aid kit. Turning on the dome light, I rifled through the kit for the necessary supplies.

"Looks like we've gotten the attention of the locals," Daryl commented.

I looked up and saw several walkers in the headlights. "Like moths to a flame," I remarked. "Here, hold still." I slid over towards him and cleaned and patched the cuts on his forehead and cheek. "Well, those weren't as bad as they looked."

He checked his reflection out in the mirror. "Good as new," he declared.

"Guess we might as well get comfortable, seeing as we aren't going anywhere for a while." Daryl curved his arm around me, and being snuggled up with him felt pretty damn good, given the circumstances. It helped me to forget the feeling I still had of David's hands on me. We turned off all the lights and the engine, hoping that the walkers would wander off, but they knew there was potential dinner in the car and continued to mill around. The atmosphere around us was thick with tension of what had happened back at the trailer park. At that point, though, I just wanted to forget about it.

Daryl wasn't ready to let it go. "That fuckin' kid _lied_ to us, you know. That fucking piece of shit David is a _psycho_."

I sighed. "I really, honestly think Marco had no idea that David would do that." I believed that 100%.

"How the hell would he not know?" Daryl demanded. I shrugged. I just didn't have the energy to argue about Marco's motives right now. I started to slide back over to my side of the car, but Daryl said quickly, "Shit, I'm sorry, darlin'. I shouldn't be yellin' at you." He was silent for a minute. "I _promised_ I'd keep ya safe, and I'm doin' a piss-poor job of it."

"Jesus, _I'm_ the one who's at fault here. What the fuck was I thinking, going to see him by myself?" We could go on an on all night, playing the blame game, so I changed the subject. "So do you think Esther meant something when she said my family was headed to Pegasus? Or was she just rambling?"

"Hard to know for sure, but it seems like she wasn't too far gone. Can you think of anything around where you're from that might have somethin' to do with it?" Daryl asked.

I wracked my brain. "Kentucky is horse country, so I'm going to guess if it exists, it's in Kentucky. Do you remember how far off we are from the border?"

"I checked the map 'fore we left th' trailer park. Might be about fifteen miles or so from th' river."

The thought of the river brought me up short. "Wow, I haven't seen the Ohio in...years. So weird. That river was kind of a constant fixture in my life for a long, long time." I fell silent for a minute, thinking about all of the time my family spent on that river. When it looked like Daryl was getting ready to say something else, I jumped in again. "So, hey, about what you said back at the trailer park about us being married?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh, nothing. It was just kinda weird to hear you say that," I finished lamely.

"So do ya wanna get married someday?" he asked.

Honestly, the thought had not crossed my mind until he'd said it to David. "Welll, I don't know. I'm not sure what the point would be any more."

"Ya already claimed me for your own, darlin'. A ring on my finger ain't gonna make any difference in that." He kissed me again. "But I'd do it if it'd make ya happy."

I smiled and curled up next to him again, finally feeling my body relax. My mind drifted to the weddings that had happened back at home in the storage facility, then to my own wedding to Ty, way way back eons ago. Then suddenly the sun was up, and I jerked awake to a knock on the window. The knock woke Daryl, too, and both of us stared uncomprehendingly at the scene outside the car. Five dead walkers lay strewn about the ground, and a girl who looked to be about twenty and armed to the teeth was trying to get our attention through the glass.

Slowly, Daryl rolled down the window. "Hey, I'm Renee. Y'all need some help?" she asked us. With her tugging and us pushing, we were able to get the door open. We crawled out of the car, and I realized just how banged up I'd gotten in the accident. Everything ached. "Don't see a whole lot of humans 'round here. Where'd ya come from?"

The urgency of our trip immediately came back to me full force. "We're from up north. We're looking for my family. Have you seen any guys come through here? Their names are-" I was about to launch into my description when Renee held up a hand.

"Woah, there. Y'all look like you could use some breakfast and a change of clothes. I don't live too far from here. Can I offer you some hospitality?" she asked.

Daryl was surveying the damage on the car. He sighed. "Looks like we're not gonna be drivin' anywhere for a while. Might as well." He popped open the back of the truck and reached in to grab his crossbow and a couple of other things we'd want to bring along. I noticed Renee checking him out, and I felt a weird twinge of possessiveness. Historically, I had never been a possessive person, but I hadn't had any reason to feel threatened in my relationship with Daryl until right now. Daryl was not paying her any more attention than anyone else we'd encountered, but the knowledge that a cute younger woman with mad walker-killing skills was eyeing him made me go over to the truck under the pretense of conversation so I could put my hands on him.

"Hey love, do you think this is a good idea?" I asked.

"I think it's the best idea we got right now. Maybe there are some guys at her place that can help us push the truck outta this ditch. I don't think the damage is major, but we ain't gonna know for sure until we can get it back on th' road." Daryl gave me an intense look and said, "Don't worry. I'm not leavin' yer side this time." He handed me a backpack, my guitar and my hatchet, and he took another backpack and his crossbow.

Renee let out a low whistle. "That is a nice piece of equipment. Can I see it?"

Daryl raised an eyebrow. "Maybe when we get to where we're goin'."

"You play the guitar, too?" she asked, clearly even more interested in this sexy badass that she'd discovered.

"Huh-uh, that's hers. You should hear her play. She's pretty awesome."

I was glowing with the compliment and grabbed Daryl's hand. "I think we're ready. Lead the way."

0000000

Renee's compound was an old farmhouse, surrounded by fence made out of scavenged pieces of barbed wire, chain link, white picket fence, sheets of metal and a few plastic folding tables thrown in for good measure. Along the top were all sorts of sharp metal pieces, pointed outwards to jab the walkers that got too close. As we approached, we were greeted by another woman decked out like Rambo, who was watching the perimeter. "Hey Renee, where'd you find these guys?"

"Out on my rounds," she called back. On our hike back, between her and Daryl competing to see who could pick off the most walkers, she explained that she went out every morning and killed as many zombies as she could find. The way that she figured it, she had said, it was her duty to try to help rid the world of their kind. "If everyone would just kill a couple of walkers a day, they could be completely eliminated in our lifetime," she had told us, sounding a bit like a PSA from TV days.

We walked through the gate, and the woman on guard introduced herself as Tisha. She, too, unabashedly checked Daryl out and muttered, "Nice job," to Renee.

"Their truck went off the road in the storm last night. I think we can round up the troops and push them out, but I thought it was only neighborly to bring them back here for a meal and maybe a proper night's rest," she explained, winking at Tisha.

Something really super-weird was afoot here, but I wasn't sure I could explain it to Daryl without sounding like a crazy jealous girlfriend. So I just kept my mouth shut and followed them inside. They didn't make any attempt to disarm us, so that made me feel slightly better. Tisha brought us into the kitchen, and there were three other young women seated around a worn wooden table, getting ready to dig into a breakfast that made my mouth water.

"Hey guys," Renee announced. "This here is Daryl and Stella. Can you make some room?"

The three women openly gaped at Daryl for a second and then quickly scooted over to make room for us. Renee introduced them as Tamika, Nora, and Lisa. All appeared to be in their early to late twenties, with the exception of Tisha who _might_have been thirty, and all were just as badass as the next. Over breakfast, I began to understand what it might feel like to be completely invisible. At first, they asked both of us questions about where we were from and where we were going. I told them about my brothers and dad, and they seemed genuinely regretful that they had not seen them. But gradually, all of their questions were directed at Daryl, and they hung onto his every word. At their request, he told them about the prison, and his group's battles with the Governor, and their eventual arrival at the self-storage facility. They "oohed" and "aahed" over all of his stories, but the weird thing about it was that Daryl seemed completely oblivious to what was going on, until Nora put a hand on his arm when she asked him a question. He gave her a look that made her withdraw it immediately and blush slightly.

Mercifully, breakfast was over soon enough, and Tamika showed us to an empty room where we could leave our stuff and change. "I'll go get you some fresh water from the well so you can wash up if you'd like."

"Jesus Christ," I whispered. "They might as well quit with the pretense and go ahead and jump your bones already."

Daryl laughed. "What th' hell are you talkin' about?"

I just looked at him. "You're telling me you totally didn't see what was going on down there? It's like we're in the fucking Castle Anthrax." Not like that would mean anything to him. I doubt he'd ever even _heard_ of Monty Python, much less watched one of their movies.

"Ya lost me, babe." His voice was muffled as he pulled off his shirt. I quit my bitching to enjoy the view. Six months together and the sight of him shirtless still got me a little short of breath.

The sound of the door bursting open behind me made me jump. It was Tamika, back with a large bowl of water. "Oh, sorry," she apologized though she clearly didn't mean it. "Guess I shoulda knocked." She ogled Daryl for a second and then excused herself, closing the door behind her.

"Seriously?" The man had to be completely blind not to see what was going on here, but he really looked genuinely clueless. I just sighed and went to wash up.

Once we were both clean and in fresh clothes, I laid down on the bed. It was lumpy and sagged in the middle, but after a night spent in the car, it still felt sooooo good. "Come lay down with me for a few minutes?" I asked Daryl. He climbed in next to me and within seconds, I was sound asleep.

Several hours later, I woke up alone. My stomach clenched, as I wondered what Daryl had gotten up to while I was asleep. I tried to calm my mind: _Daryl loves YOU. He's never give you any reason to question his loyalty._ Another voice shot back, _Yeah, but he's also never been faced with five beautiful women who so clearly want to fuck him_. I wish my best friend Marie was here, either to talk some sense into me, or to put those women in their place. _OK, just play it cool. No choice but to trust that he'll do the right thing._ I sighed heavily, hoping that we could just get our truck going and get the hell out of here before dark.

I headed out into the hallway and ran into Lisa. I forced a smile at her. "Have you seen Daryl?"

"Not enough of him!" she joked, cracking herself up. Seeing that I wasn't amused, she said, "He went out hunting with Renee."

_Ugh_. My stomach dropped. _So much for not leaving my side…_

Seeing the expression on my face, Lisa added, "They've been gone for a while. I'm sure they'll be back any time now!" Judging from her expression, she really was trying to make me feel better, not twist the knife. "Come downstairs. All the girls are hanging out on the porch, shooting the shit."

Outside, the rest of the girls were laughing and joking, and it made me miss Marie something fierce. Every once in a while, a walker would come shuffling up to the fence, and one of the girls would go running towards it to kill it. Except instead of just killing it outright, the girl would do a more ridiculous running/jumping/twirling/dancing move across the yard than the last one before landing the blow. In spite of my dislike for these girls, I couldn't help laughing, and even joined in with the hi-ya ninja moves that had amused Daryl so much a few days ago.

As I came back up the porch, laughing and out of breath, Tamika asked, chuckling, "You sure you guys don't just want to stay on here? It'd be an awful lot of fun."

At that moment, Daryl and Renee came strolling out of the woods, each with a couple of rabbits that they'd killed. I tried not to watch them too closely, telling myself, _They just went hunting, that's all_. Daryl came up onto the porch, announcing to the group, "Me an' Renee just took care of dinner for y'all."

There was a chorus of oohs and ahhs again over Daryl and his hunting prowess, even though I'm fairly certain Renee probably brought home dinner for them all on her own on a fairly regular basis. She caught my attention and rolled her eyes, smirking at the fawning women. Tisha and Nora took the rabbits and headed back into the kitchen. Daryl headed upstairs to our room, so I followed him. I sat on the bed while he washed up again.

"So...how was hunting?" I asked, not willing to tell him exactly what was on my mind. I was a little pissed that he had left me here, but there's no way I could honestly say _that_ was what was bothering me the most.

"Good. Felt good to get out there." He rubbed his now clean face with a towel. "Renee said that she an' the other girls could help us get the truck out tomorrow."

_Tomorrow?_ I tried to keep my voice neutral. "Oh, I was hoping we could get out on the road here soon."

"No sense in leaving when we got a perfectly good place to stay here."

I tried again. "I mean, it just feels like we wasted a lot of time here today. I'm ready to get moving again."

"You need ta talk to Renee about Pegasus. She has an idea what that lady mighta been talkin' about."

Now a thread of excitement mixed in with the dread I'd been feeling about spending the night here. "Really? What did she say?"

"Go talk t'her. She'll be able t'tell ya better than me," he told me. He grabbed my shoulders and gave me an intense stare. "And Funny Girl, don't worry none 'bout these girls. They ain't gonna hurt us." He hugged me, and I buried my head in his chest for a minute, wondering if he knew more about what was up than he was letting on.

Dinner was quite good, and about the only thing that made me want to stay. Eating the meager provisions we'd packed really was getting old. Between bites, I asked Renee what she thought Esther might have meant about Pegasus.

"You familiar with Shelbyville? Outside of Louisville?" she asked.

"Yeah, I lived not too far from there for a while," I replied.

"There was a business there called Pegasus Industries. I wonder if that's what she was talking about," Renee told us.

Nora piped up, "A couple years back, some people came through and said they'd just left this ginormous compound that they called Pegasus."

"They were leaving? Did they say why?" Not many people willingly left a good place anymore unless something was majorly wrong.

Nora shook her head. "Nope. Just said that things didn't work out."

After dinner, Daryl grabbed our map, looking for Shelbyville. "There it is," I said, marking it with a pencil. We colored the roads between here and there, and Renee gave us some tips on how to make the journey across the river into Kentucky. Apparently, the bridge was not in the best of shape, lo these many years after the ZA.

A few minutes later, Lisa came in to let us know there was a nice fire going outside, and that we should come join them. "You should get your guitar," she told me. "None of us can sing worth a damn, so it's been a while since we've had any music."

I wasn't sure I was feeling it, but Daryl elbowed me and nodded his head, so I went upstairs and grabbed it. When I came back outside, everyone had pulled up a chair next to the fire, drink in hand. Daryl had saved me a seat, so I slipped in beside him and then I, too, had a drink in my hand. I'm not sure what the hell these girls had been brewing, but I was pretty trashed in short order. Daryl was, too, and he began egging me on to play something.

I sloppily tuned up my guitar, and it was pretty obvious from the first chord that it was still slightly off, but no one seemed to mind. They had a couple of requests that I knew so I played those. Then I played a couple of the originals that Marie and I had written.

"C'mon, play them the song ya wrote me," Daryl begged.

I giggled. "You're like a kid on Christmas with that song."

He leaned over to Tamika, who was sitting on the other side of him. "She wrote the awesomest song 'bout me and her," he slurred.

Everyone started chiming in then, telling me to play it, so I did. After I finished, Daryl planted the sloppiest kiss on me in front of everyone. _See girls_, I thought hazily, _that's how it is_. Then I had to pee, so I staggered off around the house, out of the range of the campfire. After I took care of my business, I noticed there were a few walkers milling about outside the fence, so I strolled along inside, just out of reach of their grasping arms. "Yeah, motherfuckers," I taunted them. "Can't get me!" Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and jumped about a mile.

It was Tisha. "Shit, sorry! Didn't mean to scare ya!" she giggled, as drunk as I was.

"Glad I'd already peed," I said, and I giggled, too.

"So..." Tisha clearly had something on her mind and wasn't exactly sure how to ask it. Finally she just blurted out, "Would you mind if I slept with Daryl?"

I giggled again, drunk enough to think she wasn't serious. "Oh yeah, sure. You can _totally_ sleep with my boyfriend," I said sarcastically.

"No, for real." Seeing my shocked expression, she quickly explained, "I mean, it's just for a night. It wouldn't mean anything. It's just, it's been a while since we had a guy come through, and you know, we kinda...take care...of each other, but it's, well, it's not exactly the same now, is it?"

I tried to process what I was hearing through my alcohol-soaked brain. "You want to...sleep...with Daryl?"

"Well, yeah. You'd be doing me such a huge favor. And if it would make you feel better, you could be there the whole time!" she added. "You could even join in, if you're into it."

"...Oh man, I wish I could be the kinda girl that could do that, but I don't think I can. And I dunno if Daryl would either." Then a thought occurred to me. "But please don't ask him, K?"

Tisha laughed. "OK. But think about it, and let me know if you change your mind." As I started to walk back to the fire, she called after me, "Keep your eyes open though. Some of those girls aren't polite enough to ask!"

She was definitely right on that one. When I came back, Nora was massaging Daryl's shoulders. He looked up at me sheepishly, but I just said, "Don't let me interrupt." A thought had popped into my head the minute I saw what was going on: _gonna have to beat them at their own game_. I grabbed the blanket that was on the back of my chair, scooted my chair closer to him, and threw the blanket over our laps. "Getting a little chillly, huh?" I purred in his ear. Nora now was digging one of her hands into the muscles of my neck, and I had to admit, it felt pretty fucking good. I rested my head on his shoulder, and slid my hand under the blanket and up his leg. Feeling his hard-on through his jeans, I whispered, "Guess you're enjoying the evening so far?" Deftly freeing his dick, I began to slowly tickle him with my fingertips. He groaned very quietly in my ear, and I tightened my grip and sped up the motion every so slightly. Clearly, Nora had figured out what was going on under the blanket because I could hear her breath come more quickly and noticed that the range of her hands had increased. When I could tell that Daryl was just there on the edge, I withdrew my hand and licked his earlobe before I sat up.

Everyone around the fire was staring at us, with the exception of Nora, who was bright red as she went to sit back down. I picked up my guitar. Grinning widely, I said, "Anyone have any requests?"

As I started playing, Daryl tried to discreetly get himself back together. Finally, he stood up. "Uh, I'm gonna go get some water," he muttered.

A minute later, Lisa started to get up, so I decided to run interference. "Good night, all," I said, smiling sweetly at everyone. "Thanks for a lovely party." I headed down the hallway and then suddenly Daryl was on me. He pushed me up against the wall and kissed me like he'd wanted to swallow me whole.

"What th' hell are ya doing to me, woman?" he growled in my ear.

I smirked at him. "Just showing you sometimes the grass is greenest in your own backyard."

In response, he slid his hand up my shirt and grabbed one of my nipples, pinching it between his fingers. A moan escaped my lips, so he continued, now biting me on the curve of my neck. Hungrily, he worked his way down my body, undoing my belt and yanking my jeans down. He slid his face between my legs, and I had to struggle to keep my knees from buckling. His hands gripped my ass and as much as my hips bucked and twitched, he wouldn't let me go until I came and slid into a pile on the floor. Without a word, he scooped up my limp body and carried me upstairs.

I regained my strength as we entered the room and stood up, tearing off his clothes as we made our way to the bed. I fell back and he fell on top of me, and I whispered, "I want you to fuck me. As hard as you can." And he did, thrusting into me again and again, until we both came, crying out loud enough to wake the dead. Afterwards, we lay side by side, our sweaty skin sticking us to each other, and listened to the creaks and moans that I was well-aware wasn't from the settling of the old house. "Poor girls," I giggled, my face pressed to the crook of Daryl's neck. "And all because I wouldn't share."

Daryl laughed sleepily. He us both over so that my body was curved up against his, and he kissed me softly on the back of the neck. Then we both crashed into sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**...a little fluffy, but I think these guys deserve an afternoon off.**

The next day I think I might have preferred death to what I was feeling when I woke up. After everything that had happened yesterday, I felt like I'd been hit by a bus. While I lay there wondering how it was possible that I had that many muscles that could all hurt simultaneously, I began to realize that puking was imminent. Without running water, the best place to throw up was kind of a crapshoot. After desperately considering my options, I darted towards the window and barfed up the contents of my stomach. It smelled like 100% alcohol, which made me throw up again. Moaning in agony, I collapsed in a heap below the window. From below, I heard Renee announce, "Hangover, room 201!"

Daryl was sitting up, head in his hands. Clearly, he was feeling about the same as me, but naturally he wasn't going to admit it. "Fuck," he muttered. "What the fuck _was_ that stuff?"

"I dunno," I groaned. "Rat poison?"

I couldn't manage to stand up, so I crawled across the floor and back into bed. Daryl put a hand on my head, but somehow that made me feel worse so I shrugged it off. "Can I get ya somethin'?" he asked.

"Yeah, ginger ale and pretzels," I said, thinking that I would actually be _totally_ fine with any of the girls sleeping with Daryl if they could provide me with ginger ale and pretzels. "I guess some water."

I heard Daryl go downstairs, and then heard Tisha bid him a cheerful "Good morning!" He muttered something grouchily in reply. I must have dozed off because suddenly he was back with a glass of water. I gratefully accepted the cup, taking small sips so I didn't just puke it all back up again. "They got breakfast going down there, so I'm gonna go down and try to eat something. Wanna come?"

The thought of food made me dry heave a little, so I shook my head. "Gimme a couple more minutes, and I'll get my shit together. I can't lay here all day."

"No rush," he said. Brushing the hair out of my eyes, Daryl kissed me on the forehead and then headed downstairs.

I must have dozed off again, and when I woke up, I felt incrementally better. I sloowwwwwly got dressed, trying not to wake the sleeping beast in my stomach, and then slooowwwwwly made my way downstairs. Daryl was sitting in a chair while Tamika tended to the cuts on his face. At this point, I didn't even care. I sat down and promptly laid my head down on the table. Lisa was washing breakfast dishes, but the other girls weren't around. "Do you want some breakfast?" Lisa asked me.

I just groaned.

"You'll probably feel better with something in your stomach," Tamika offered.

I groaned again. How were these girls not hurting as bad as I was?

"Ummm, how about something like bread?" Lisa suggested. "It's not exactly Wonder bread or anything, but it might soak up some of that snake juice still left in your stomach."

_Snake juice. That sounds about right._ I nodded mutely, and Lisa handed me a piece of very dense, dry bead with a mug of tea. "It's peppermint," she explained. "That should help some, too."

It took me what felt like an hour of tiny bites and tiny sips to eat my breakfast, but by the time I was done, I felt somewhat more human again. Everyone had left me alone in the kitchen, so I went to find Daryl and see if he was ready to hit the road. He was on the porch with Renee, the map spread out between them.

"So I've crossed it on foot a couple of times in the past year or so, and it seems to be holding up OK," Renee was saying. "There are still a good number of cars rusting away on it, so you may come up on a roadblock or two."

"But do you think we'll be able to make it across?" I asked. I hadn't made it this far to be turned back by a bridge.

"Can't guarantee it, but I think you have a good enough chance that it's worth a shot," she told me.

Daryl looked a little nervous. "Bridge ain't gonna collapse under is, is it?"

Renee shook her head. "Nah, I think that it'll hold up for another coupla years still. Course, I'm no engineer, so I'm not exactly an expert."

I was willing to take my chances. We finally had a solid lead and a definite destination, so I wasn't giving up now, even though at that moment I wouldn't mind having a dark hole to hide in for a couple of days.

We packed up our stuff, and once the rest of the girls were ready, we headed out to free the truck. The others looked annoyingly hangover-free this morning, with the exception of Nora who appeared to be as green as I felt. I am not too mature to admit that it made me feel just the slightest bit better to see her suffer. We encountered a couple of walkers on our journey, but they were handily dispatched by the un-hungover among us. As we approached the truck, a new pang of anxiety hit me. "What if it doesn't run?" I asked Daryl, slightly panicked.

"Just be Zen, darlin'," was his reply. I'm not sure if it was because he was feeling like shit or because he wasn't exactly sure himself, but he sounded a lot less confident than usual.

With me behind the wheel and six people pushing, we were able to ease the truck out of the ditch and back onto the road. Daryl and Tisha inspected the front end and declared that it didn't look too far out of alignment. "Y'all just may need to lean a little to the left to keep her on the road," Tisha joked.

I slid over, letting Daryl get behind the wheel so I could die quietly in the passenger seat. Renee poked her head in the window. "If y'all need a place to stay on your way back through, feel free to stop by." Glancing over her shoulder at her housemates, she added wryly, "You did say you had brothers, right?"

That made me crack a small smile, even though I would guarantee that we would _not_ be stopping here again. "Thanks for everything," I said weakly.

"Yeah, thanks," Daryl said. "Y'all were a big help."

Renee shrugged. "No problem. Safe travels." And with that we headed off to Kentucky.

"Jeeeeesus," I muttered. "What the hell was _that_?"

"What're ya talking 'bout?" Daryl asked.

"Oh, come on! You_ can't_ tell me that you didn't know what those girls were up to!" As annoyed as I was, I kept my voice low because I knew that yelling would dial my throbbing headache up to an eleven.

"Well, yeah," Daryl admitted. "Renee warned me while we were out hunting."

"Renee did?"

"Yep."

"Huh." I must have misjudged her entirely. I considered for a minute. "Guess that has to be rough, with no one around to relieve your..._needs_ or whatever." I thought about how, before Daryl showed up, I'd slept with one of the guys back at home just because it had been five _long_ years since my husband had died, and I hadn't gotten any since. "But at least I wouldn't try and hook up with someone else's boyfriend."

"It's not like they had a chance in hell of baggin' me. I'm taken." He put his hand on my knee and squeezed it gently. "You should know me better'n that by now."

"Yeah, but five hot chicks jonesing for you is kind of an unprecedented test of willpower for any guy," I protested. Regardless, hearing him say that made me feel soooo good. I slid over and rested my head on his shoulder, but immediately felt the need to puke my brains out again. I quickly moved back into my seat and rolled the window down, the crisp fall air feeling heavenly on my skin.

We pretty quickly covered the miles to the river and were soon staring down the Ohio River. It seemed slower, wider and shallower than I remembered it to be. The bank was cluttered with debris and looked like a trash dump and archeological dig site at the same time. Amidst the trash was a walker, clawing at the mud to get to us, so I handed Daryl my hatchet and he quickly dispatched it with no trouble.

From the footprints around, it also appeared that there were people here not too long ago. "Wonder if that was Renee and her crew?" Daryl thought aloud.

We wandered around for a bit, both of us wanting to postpone crossing the river just a little bit longer. Renee's words didn't exactly bolster our confidence about the stability of the bridge. As we were standing there, I spotted something weird out in the river. It really looked like someone was fishing out there. I squinted at what I thought was a boat and elbowed Daryl. "Am I hallucinating, or is there someone out there?"

He followed the direction of my pointing finger. "Huh. Yeah, looks that way." Naturally, my first thought was that maybe it was one of my family, and I began frantically waving. "Wait, what're y'doin'?" He grabbed my arm, but it was too late. The boater was rowing towards us.

"What? We can be friendly with girls, but not guys?" I said accusingly. "He's _fishing_, not out to kill strangers."

Daryl just grunted noncommittally and kept his crossbow at the ready in case he needed it.

The man reached the bank, and we helped him get the rowboat securely onto the bank. He looked to be in his fifties or so and greeted us with a friendly smile. "Howdy folks! Haven't seen you 'round these parts before. Where ya headed?"

"We're on our way to Shelbyville, looking for my family," I volunteered, giving him the details.

He frowned. "Sorry, can't say I've seen anyone matching that description. But my family an' I haven't been here more'n five or so years, so maybe they came through 'fore then."

I smiled at his attempt to soften his bad news. "Oh, I'm Stella, and this is Daryl."

"Danny," he said, offering his hand to the both of us. "Please t'meet ya."

Daryl craned his neck in both directions. "Where'd y'come from?" he asked.

"Just 'cross the river. M'family an' I have a camp on the Kentucky side of the bank," he explained.

"Hey, have you heard anything about a compound called Pegasus? That's where we're headed," I told him.

"Oh yeah," he replied. "Haven't been there m'self, but we've had a couple people pass through who talked 'bout it. Sounds like a pret' big operation from what they said."

"You guys haven't thought 'bout joining up with 'em?" Daryl asked.

"Nah, we like our freedom too much. Don't wanna answer to nobody 'sides ourselves." He chuckled. "My son, though, he's been talkin' 'bout checkin' the place out. 'Course, I think he's just lookin' to find himself a girlfriend, now that he's a big man of eighteen."

I grinned. "Reeeeally? I think I might know just the place for him."

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Don't pay her no mind. So have y'ever been 'cross the bridge?"

"On foot, once or twice. I'd rather just use m'boat, though," Danny replied.

"So whatcha think? Can we get 'cross with the truck?" Daryl asked.

"If you do the Clark." Danny pointed to the bridge over our heads. "The 65 bridge is so full'a old cars and crap that you'll never be able t'drive 'cross. The Big Four they never finished, but I've walked 'cross that one coupla times. Wouldn't try it with a vehicle, though."

"Well, guess we better get goin'," Daryl said, picking up his crossbow.

"Hey, when ya get 'cross, stop by our place. We'll feed ya 'fore you have to get on yer way." Danny jotted down directions on the back of one of the fliers that I always had on me. "Oh hang on!" He reached under the seat of his rowboat and pulled out two life jackets. "Might be worth it, just in case."

"Thought you said th' bridge was safe!" Daryl protested.

"Better safe than sorry," Danny replied.

"Thanks," I said, strapping the jacket on. "See you for lunch!"

We got back in the truck. Daryl sat for a minute. "Feel like a dumbass wearin' a life jacket in a fuckin' truck," he muttered, putting it on anyway. Taking a deep breath, he put it in gear and we made our way onto the bridge.

Without saying anything to each other, we both rolled our windows down and left our seatbelts off. I know he was planning an escape should the bridge not hold because that's exactly what I was thinking, too. It felt like it took hours to even make it to the center of the bridge. Thankfully, there was enough space between abandoned cars to squeeze the truck through. By the time we got to the middle, Daryl's knuckles were _white_ white against his tan skin and my stomach was triple-knotted. Then we came up to a car that there was no getting around.

"Fuck. We're gonna have to get out an' move it." Daryl put the truck in park and took a deep breath before opening the door. I sat rooted in my seat, but he told me, "Sorry, darlin'. Ain't gonna be able t'do it on my own."

I opened my door and let out a small gasp. There was a hole directly below my door where the cement had crumbled away, and I could see the rebar that ran the length of the bridge and, beyond that, the churning river. Without fanfare, I closed my door and slid out the driver's side instead.

Thankfully, after years out in the elements, most of the car was rust that simply crumbled away when we touched it, leaving just the frame that was surprisingly easy to push out of the way. The path clear again, we climbed back in the truck and soon enough were on solid ground again. Daryl put the truck in park and got out without saying anything. He stretched, touching his toes a couple of times. Then he took off the life jacket and tossed it into the back of the truck. My stomach finally relaxed, and I opened the door and barfed again, feeling almost like myself once I was finished.

"Don't know 'bout you, but I'm starvin!" he said, grinning like someone who had just cheated death by the narrowest of margins.

We easily found Danny's camp, and I was charmed by him and his family. Honestly, I was just happy that we'd found people that seemed relatively _normal_, compared to the weirdos we'd been meeting on the road. I was completely relaxed here; there was nothing that felt even the slightest bit off. His wife was June and was clearly tickled to have guests. She rushed around, preparing what seemed like way too much food for the number of people who were there. Danny's son, Randy, seemed to view us with a little more suspicion than his parents. However, he was pretty enthralled with Daryl's crossbow, though, and was won over when Daryl offered to let him shoot it.

As was the case with the new world order, Danny's family also included people who were not family in the traditional sense. There was Megan, who looked to be about my age, and a young girl, Kelly, who also lived with them. All in all, they seemed to be a nice group of folks who put me instantly at ease.

Their home was lovely and peaceful, on the banks of the river. Naturally, the perimeter was fenced off to keep out the walkers. They had strung barbed wire from tree to tree which seemed to do the job quite nicely. Their house appeared to be converted from an old picnic shelter. Danny explained proudly how they had scavenged wood, windows, and other materials and built it all on their own. They had a woodstove in the center of the home and everyone had a little private space made with sheets and clothesline.

"We all get heat from the woodstove in the winter," Danny explained, "so we can't put up actual walls."

I was starting to feel a little more human again, so I helped June get lunch ready. She handed me a couple of buckets and asked me to fill them from the river. "You guys drink water from the river?" We always joked about how polluted the river was when I was a kid.

"Yep! It's been years since there's been factories and barges dumping junk into the river. You'd be surprised how clean it's gotten," she told me. Looking me over, she added, "We've got a little private set up if you want to get a bath while your here, too. Might be kinda cold, though."

I was still a bit dubious about her claims of the cleanliness of the river, so I didn't say anything one way or the other. Taking the buckets down to the river, I waded in a little bit off the shore to get some clearer water, and I was pleasantly surprised that the water wasn't as cold as I'd expected. Filling the buckets, I was even more pleasantly surprised at the clarity of the water. I guess that if they had been drinking the water for a while and lived to tell about it, it couldn't be too bad.

Hoisting the buckets up, my vision went gray a little bit, and I had to steady myself against a tree. _Ugh, I am WAY too old to drink like that anymore!_ In reality, I knew thirty wasn't actually that old, but man I felt ancient today. Once my balance was back, I took the full buckets to the house, taking care not to spill. June and Megan were setting up lunch on a picnic table by the river, and Kelly was lying in a hammock, her nose in a book.

"You need to do those math problems I wrote down, you know!" Megan called to her. To me, she said, "Can't get that girl to put down a book to save her life."

I smiled. "Where do you guys get books from?"

"The library," June replied. Seeing my confused look, she added, "The old library is not too far from here. Whenever anyone goes out to scavenge, they're under strict instructions from Kelly to bring back books."

Sitting there under the trees on a gorgeous fall day, I could think of nothing more pleasant than spending an afternoon reading a book as the river rolled by.

My appetite returned with a vengeance for lunch. Daryl and Randy came back in and joined the rest of us at the weathered picnic table. Daryl clearly had a new friend in Randy, as he hung on to every word of the few that Daryl uttered between bites. The fish that Danny had caught was amazing, making me rethink all of my old opinions about the river. The water tasted a little funny, but Megan assured me that it was because they had boiled it. She admitted that it took a "little while" for your stomach to get used to it. They kept a cow and some chickens, so we had cheese and deviled eggs along with vegetables from their garden prepared about a million different ways. By far, the best thing was dessert, which was ice cream with blackberries. I might have eaten a gallon of it except that Daryl reminded me that it might be wise to slow down given the condition of my stomach that morning.

Over lunch, we swapped stories about how we came to be here. Danny, June and Randy were from West Virginia and had taken to the river to seek refuge from the walkers back when it started. They had set up camp a couple of times along the river, but no place worked out for them until they landed here.

"For a while there, it was life or death, fightin' off those walkers day an' night," Danny commented. He looked thoughtfully out into the woods. "Seems like things are finally startin' to settle again, thank the lord." He continued his story. "It was Randy's idea t'stay here. He's the one who figured out that with th' trees they way they were, we could fence them walkers out pret' easy."

Randy chimed in, "Seemed like a good location, too, with the river, but also bein' close enough to the city to go in for supplies. Startin' to feel like we 'bout cleared it out, though."

"But we do a good job providing for ourselves now," June mentioned.

Looking around at the spread on the table, I had to agree. I asked Megan, "So how did you guys end up here?"

"Danny found us holed up in an apartment downtown. Kelly lived next door, and I came across her half-starved when I was searching for food after the walkers showed up. We managed for a couple of years on our own, but I think we were both a little crazy when Danny met us." She smiled sadly at Kelly. "She still doesn't talk a whole lot." In response, Kelly picked up her book and went back to her hammock to read. "I guess I should just be grateful we're both alive, but I just feel so bad about what she went through."

Her comments made me think about Henry, and how he would have been able to process the complete chaos that he must have gone through. Megan noticed the sad expression on my face, so she asked us to tell about how we met. "It's kind of hard to find a good man these days!" she laughed.

Between the two of us, Daryl and I told them about our home, the self-storage facility, and about how I'd been a lonely widow for a number of years when Daryl came through the gate. Getting caught up in the story, I explained how he was just about the most gorgeous thing I'd laid eyes on in ages, but I was certain that I didn't have a shot in hell. Daryl's response was that he thought the same thing about me, which actually made me blush even though I'd heard it before. Naturally, he had to tell them about my falling into his lap at our town's bar, which made me blush even more.

"That's when I knew she was th' girl for me," Daryl joked. He told them about the bonfire where me and my friends had been playing songs for everyone, and the song I'd sung to him. "Was all over for me, then."

I could see June and Megan getting a little misty at our story, and honestly I was shocked that Daryl was so chatty with these complete strangers about something so personal. But it was really nice to hear just the same.

We all helped clear up the table. After lunch, Randy said he wanted to show Daryl the deer stand he had built, so they went off again, Danny joining them. I was bone-tired, so June showed me to another hammock and I was asleep within minutes. When I got up, I decided that a little dip in the water might feel nice, so I got a towel and some soap from Megan and she directed me to the area they had set up for bathing. The river bank sloped back a there so there was a little more privacy. Stripping off my dirty clothes, I slipped into the river. It was a little cold at first, but the sun was warm so I didn't mind so much. Being able to have the closest thing to a proper bath that I'd had in days was _heaven_. Digging my hands into the rocks on the edge of the river, I laid on my back and let the water rush past me. Leaning my head back into the water, I closed my eyes against the bright sunshine and sighed deeply.

A noise at the riverbank made me start, but it was just Daryl. "How did you know I was here?" I asked him.

"June told me. Guess she thought I could use a bath, too." He held up the towel. Quickly stripping off his clothes, he waded past me, out into the river, cursing at how cold it was.

"Where are you going?"

"Just gonna get it over with." He disappeared from view for a minute, letting out a whoop as he broke back through the surface. Coming back to the shallower water, he asked me, "You wanna wash my back?"

Giggling, I motioned for him to come closer and soaped up his back. Once he was clean, too, we goofed around in the water, splashing and threatening each other with dunks. Finally, we crawled out of the river and sat on our towels, naked as jaybirds, and let the sun dry our skin. I sat between Daryl's legs, and he wrapped his arms around me. Once again, I let out a sigh that felt like it had been waiting to be let out since we left home days ago. "How long have we been gone?" I asked him.

"'Bout four days. Well, today is the fifth day out."

"Shit. It feels like it's been a year. Guess we won't be back in a week, like we promised."

"Nope, prob'ly not."

"Can we stay here tonight?" Pulling his arms around me tighter, I said, "Can we stay here forever?" I still felt that urge to find my family pushing me forward, but I was feeling right then that I didn't want to move a muscle.

"Mmm-hmmm," he mumbled into my hair.

We sat there like that for a while, watching the river pass by. I knew it would end soon enough, but I just wanted to soak it in for as long as possible so I had every last bit of this afternoon seared into my memory.


	6. Chapter 6

**...BIG news! and BIG NEWS!**

Too soon, it was morning, and we had to leave the little paradise we'd found here on the riverbank. Weirdly, I was feeling sick again when I woke up, so I was sitting with Megan and June while Daryl and the guys packed up our stuff in the car. June, bless her, gave me a bag of homemade crackers to take with me.

I remembered the question that had occurred to me as we were approaching the river yesterday. "Is the river actually shallower now than it used to be? Somehow it looks different than I remember."

"Yeah, it is. There used to be a dam and locks just past here, but those busted out a long time ago. The river is back to its original path now, I guess," June explained.

"Huh. It's weird how no matter what we do, the earth just keeps on moving forward," I commented.

"Makes me feel better, for some reason," Megan said. "I like how, even though humans think we're the end-all-be-all, nature will eventually win out."

I smiled at her. I tended to agree. Daryl came up with Randy and Danny. "Feelin' any better?"

"Yeah, some. Maybe it was something in the water, even though it was boiled and all." I stood up slowly. "Thank you all _so much_ for your hospitality. This place is _so_ amazing." I hugged everyone and gave Kelly a smile because she didn't look too keen on a hug.

"Y'all take care, all right?" Danny said.

"And you know you can stay here on your way back, if ya need to," June reminded us. "We'd love t'see ya again and meet your family, too!"

"I'd love that," I replied, hugging her again. I really was going to miss them and this place. They followed us to the truck and stood around as we got in.

June stuck her head in the window. "I bet that place you're going has a doctor. You should be sure to see him, if they do."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine," I told her. "I just need to remember that I'm too old to be drinking that much any more."

"Yeah, you need to not be drinking any more, either." She looked at Daryl. "You make sure she goes to see someone, OK?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a little salute.

After another round of good-byes, we were finally able to pull away and head towards Pegasus. It was not too far of a distance and barring any unforeseen problems, we should be there in a few hours. This thought made it very hard for me to think about anything but what it would be like to see my family again. Then I decided I was getting too carried away by optimism, so I tried to imagine that they weren't actually there. Once again, Daryl seemed to pick up on my shift in mood. "Feelin' sick again?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm OK." I didn't want to let him in on what I was actually thinking about because I knew he would just tell me to "be Zen, Funny Girl."

"So, I told Randy 'bout Renee and those girls," he said with a grin.

"You didn't!"

"Yep. Gave him directions as best I could, too."

"Daryl! That kid has no clue what he's getting himself into if he goes there!" I couldn't help but laugh, though.

"Aw, I think he'll figure it out soon 'nough."

"Shit, Randy won't ever come home if he goes up there. Those girls will wear him _out_. Think about his poor parents, losing their only son to a bunch of horny older women!" I mock-scolded him.

"I made him promise he'd go back to see his parents," Daryl explained, "at least once."

I laughed again, shaking my head, and was about to say something about a funny smell when suddenly smoke started pouring out from under the hood. Daryl stopped the car, muttering a string of expletives before he even saw what was under the hood. "Fucking son of a _bitch_," he cursed.

I got out of the car, too, and walked around to look at the engine, even though I had no idea what I was looking at. Daryl let the smoke dissipate for a few minutes, still bitching under his breath. He went around the back of the truck and returned with his crossbow, my hatchet, and a toolkit. "Keep your eyes peeled while I see if I can get us runnin' again."

I climbed up a small hill to get a better view of the surroundings. I could see a few walkers in the distance, but nothing to worry about just yet. Also, if I squinted in the direction we were headed, I thought I could just make out what appeared to be cultivated fields, surrounded by miles of fences. Daryl was now under the truck, bitching about what he saw there. I walked back down to see what he'd discovered. It didn't look to be good news. "Fuckin' head gasket is destroyed. Not a goddamn thing I can do to fix it, neither." He kicked a tire violently and then slumped down against it, putting his head in his hands. "Motherfucker!"

I sat down next to him and was silent for a minute. I was surprised at myself for how un-freaked out I was feeling now. "So let's grab the most important stuff and start walking."

"Goddammit! Funny Girl, I promised everything would be good. I _promised_ I'd get ya there _safe_!" he groaned.

"Hey, I'm still safe. Look at me. Am I any worse off now that I was before we left? I mean, yeah, things haven't been _perfect_, but I'm in one piece. I didn't expect to come out of this _completely_ unscathed." Which was kind of a lie, but we were _so close_, I couldn't bear to turn back now. That reminded me that I had spotted walkers a little bit ago, and I should probably still be on the lookout. "But we probably need to keep moving so that we can stay that way." I stood up and was immediately dizzy. "Ugh, I'm starving. Let's eat something and then hit the road."

While we ate some of the delicious lunch that June had packed for us, we made some decisions about what we needed to take with us. Weapons were an obvious necessity, and we decided that we'd each carry a backpack with some food and a change of clothes. We didn't consider the fact that maybe this Pegasus place wouldn't let us in, because the consequences of that were too dire to think about right now. I was planning on leaving my guitar behind, but Daryl insisted I take it with me. As we were slinging on our backpacks, a group of three walkers approached. "Get in the truck," Daryl told me.

"Nope. I think I'm getting the hang of this," I replied, cracking the first walker's skull with my hatchet. Daryl took care of the other two, and after a second to catch our breath, we started our journey down the road.

0000000

About two hours and a dozen walkers later, we were at the gates of Pegasus. Even from the farthest point, the place was impressive, to say the least. It was clearly a small town more than a compound. We were staring at acres of farmland which were crawling with people. It was harvest time, and this place obviously had a hell of a lot of food to bring in.

As we approached the entrance, a sniper in the guard tower commanded us to raise our arms, so we did. Reaching the gate, we were addressed by a woman working there, "What's your business here?"

"Well, our truck broke down up the road and we've been walking and there were a bunch of walkers and…" I was so exhausted, I couldn't form a coherent sentence.

Daryl jumped in. "We've been lookin' for her family. She has two brothers an' her dad. Brothers' names are Louie and Henry Marshall, her daddy is Dominic Marshall. We heard they might be here."

The woman eyed us suspiciously. "You know Louis Marshall?"

"Yes! He's my brother," I said excitedly. "Is he here?"

She didn't answer my question. Instead, she just commanded us to put down our weapons and take a couple steps back, and then told us to stay put. At least we were inside the gate now, with it closed securely behind us. I dropped my backpack and collapsed to the ground. As elated as I was at the prospect that our long journey might actually have a happy ending, I was overwhelmed with fatigue from the hike we'd just had. The woman whispered something to another woman working the gate, and that woman hurried off. Guard Woman One didn't say anything more to us, but just continued to watch us, her hand on the gun at her hip. Looking up, I realized that one of the snipers had his crossbow trained on us, as well. When I glanced over at Daryl, I saw he was staring steadily at Guard Woman One. He didn't have any sort of expression on his face, but it was clearly unnerving her. I had to elbow him to get him to stop. It wouldn't do us any good to piss these people off first thing.

About ten minutes later, Guard Woman Two came back and muttered something to Guard Woman One. "Come with me," she said. "Leave your weapons."

Daryl winced at that, but didn't protest. It was exactly the same thing newcomers at home had to do when they entered our compound. After what we had gone through at the trailer park, it was even more unsettling to be unarmed. But I knew there was no getting in otherwise, and I was pretty damn sure now that least Louie was here. When he looked at me uncertainly, I nodded my head. Whatever it took, we were going in.

"So is Louie here?" I asked, as Daryl reached a hand down to help me up. I didn't hear her response though, because as I stood up, everything went black.

0000000

When I came to, I was in a bed that was surrounded by a curtain in a large room which appeared to be some kind of infirmary. Daryl was talking quietly with a man who I assumed was the doctor. "Dehydration, low blood sugar, and it appears that she is pregnant."

"What?" I shot up in bed, a wave of terror crashing over me. "What?!"

"Well, ma'am, I was telling your companion here that according to the tests we ran, it looks like you are pregnant." The doctor seemed to be trying to keep a neutral expression, but allowed himself a small smile. "Congratulations."

I felt like I was going to pass out again. Daryl sat down hard on the end of my bed and was staring at the floor in stunned silence.

Seeing that we were clearly not overjoyed by this piece of news, the doctor hedged a bit. "Well, the test isn't as accurate as the ones we used to have, but we've found over the years that it is right about 75% of the time." Still not getting any kind of reaction, he said, "I'll just leave you two alone for a bit," and slipped back behind the curtain.

"Jesus fucking Christ," I moaned. "I can't be pregnant!" I mean, I knew that the likelihood over time of me getting pregnant was pretty good, but I didn't think it was possible that the timing could be any worse. Daryl and I had talked hypothetically about kids, but not in the terms of _us_ actually procreating. He had said he figured he was too old to have a kid, and I thought that a world where the undead roamed, seeking out human flesh, was not exactly a place I wanted to bring a baby into. I looked over at Daryl, who was still staring at the floor, and if I wasn't mistaken, was rocking slightly. I felt horribly guilty for getting him into this situation. "Shit, babe, I'm sorry about all this."

We were interrupted by a nurse who brought in a cup of water and a plate of fruit, veggies, and some cheese. She smiled at us. "Hey guys, I'm Gabriela. I'll be keeping an eye on you while you're in the infirmary. Let me know if you need anything, OK?"

I nodded mutely at her and stared at the plate of food, not hungry in the slightest. I put my head in my hands and started to cry. Gabriela looked at Daryl, who now seemed to be in shock, and realizing he wasn't in any shape to do anything, put her hand on mine. "Look," she said soothingly, "this is big news. I understand. I was in the same position as you about a year ago. Give it some time to sink in, OK? We've got good doctors here, and you're safe inside the gates." She paused for a second, glared at Daryl, and then turned her attention back to me. "You _need_ to eat and drink something. You're really dehydrated, and your blood sugar is ridiculously low. I'll be back in to check on you in little bit, OK?" As she exited our little room, she quite deliberately stepped on Daryl's foot. He looked up at her, startled, and she glared at him again, jerking her head in my direction. Right then, Gabriela reminded me so much of my dear friend Marie back at home that I cried even harder.

Finally, Daryl came over and sat in the chair next to my bed. Finally, he took my hand and kissed it, and _finally_ he said, "I love you. It's my fault much as it is yours, so don't blame y'rself." He winced. "_Fuck_, that came out all wrong. Just kinda took me by surprise, y'know?" He brushed the tears off my cheeks. "I'm not goin' anywhere. You know that, right?"

I nodded. I tugged his hand, wanting him to come lay in bed with me. He looked dubiously at his dirty clothes. "I don't care. Come lay next to me." He slipped off his boots and squeezed in next to me in the narrow hospital bed. I buried my head in his chest and said, "I love you."

"Love you, too, Funny Girl. We're gonna be OK, don't you worry."

0000000

I guess I fell asleep again and when I woke up, Daryl was gone but Gabriela was there, taking my pulse. "I sent that man of yours on a walk," she told me. I smiled. Suddenly, I was ravenous and began devouring the fruit and vegetables that were still sitting on my plate, right where Gabriela had left them. "I threw that cheese away. Don't want you getting food poisoning on top of everything else!" she explained. "You look like you're feeling a little better. Your man does, too, matter of fact."

"Yeah, the news was a bit of a shock, to say the least," I said, between bites. "I wasn't even planning on having kids, and now here I am pregnant and miles away from home."

"I'm sorry if I'm being nosy, but you are planning on _keeping_ the baby, right?" She lowered her voice. "They don't do abortions here. They are pretty gung-ho about 'rebuilding society' around these parts."

I stopped eating. I hadn't actually considered the option of terminating the pregnancy. After a minute, I replied confidently, "Yeah, I'm keeping it."

Gabriela continued with taking my vital signs. "So you have a home? People don't usually show up here unless they're looking for a new place to live."

"I'm looking for my family." Suddenly, I remembered the original purpose for our coming here. "Hey, is there a Louie Marshall here? The lady at the gate wouldn't tell me one way or another."

I got the same sort of look from Gabriela that the guard had given me. "You mean _Louis_ Marshall? As in the assistant chief operating officer?"

It was like a jolt of electricity went through me. "So he is here! Oh my God, where is he? I need to see him!" I started to get out of bed.

"Woah, woah, hang on there a second!" Gabriela put a hand on my shoulder and guided me back into bed. "You're in no shape to be wandering around right now."

"But he is here, right?" I could barely contain myself. "What about my dad and my other brother? Are Dominic and Henry here, too?" Before she could answer, the curtain parted and in came Daryl and there, right before my disbelieving eyes, was my brother Louie, in the flesh. "Oh my God, Louie! Is it really you?"

He smiled. "It's Louis now, but yes, it's me."

"Well shit, come here then!" I reached out my arms to him and he came over, giving me a kind of awkward hug. I didn't care. I was just so happy to see him. "Oh my God," I said again. "I seriously can't believe this. Oh my God, you're so grown up!"

"Well, eight years will do that to you," Louie replied, straightening his jacket.

"Is Dad here? And what about Henry? Are they both here, too?" I asked eagerly.

A cloud passed over his face. "Dad died about five years ago. We think it was cancer."

I felt like I'd been slapped. Daryl sat down on the edge of the bed, taking my hand, and I leaned my head on his shoulder. I was reeling in a storm of emotions.

"Henry is here, though," Louie offered.

Immediately, I perked up again. "Where is he? Can I see him? I need to see him!" I demanded.

Louie hesitated. "Um, maybe we should wait until I can break the news to him. You know how he is with big surprises."

As quickly as I had perked up, I deflated. "Oh, yeah." All the years that had passed since I'd seen my brothers, and now waiting another minute to see Henry felt like it would kill me. I tried to focus just on Louie. I smiled as I looked at him. "Wow, it's just so good to see you, Louie! I seriously can't believe I found you!"

"Yeah, I'm glad you're all right, Stella." For someone who was just reunited with a sister he probably had given up for dead years ago, he was pretty eager to leave. "I have to run. My job here keeps me pretty busy, you know. I'll be back a little later, OK?"

"Oh, yeah, OK. Of course." I just stared at Louie as he gave me a small smile and then turned and left. Once he was gone, I muttered to Daryl, "Well, he hasn't fucking changed a bit."


	7. Chapter 7

**...First, YAY! And Stella and Daryl start to see that Pegasus is not what it seems.**

"So did you go out looking for him, or what?" I asked Daryl.

"I ran into him when I was comin' back in here," he told me. "He was on his way t' see you."

"After all this time, I can't _believe_ he's acting like this is no big deal! I mean, yeah, we kinda hated each other way back when we were kids, but that was _years_ ago," I fumed. "I wonder how long he's going to make me wait until he tells Henry I'm here. He's probably doing it just to make me suffer. Asshole."

"C'mon, darlin', calm down." Daryl rubbed my neck.

For a few minutes, I'd forgotten about the _other_ news that had rocked my world. I took a deep breath. "Fuuuuuck. Seriously, Daryl? What the fuck? Maybe I'm one of the 25% where the test is wrong." Then it occurred to me how completely wasted I was just two nights ago. "Oh my God, I probably already gave the baby fucking brain damage from all the shit I drank at the fucking cathouse! Jesus, I'm a terrible mother already."

"Woah, seriously, calm down!" Daryl moved my legs out of the way so he could sit on the bed, his legs hanging over either side. He grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look at him. "Woman, what the hell have I been tellin' you this whole goddamn trip?" I gave him a blank look. "Zen. Can't believe you haven't learned that yet." I rolled my eyes. "You're gonna be _fine_. _I'm_ gonna to be fine. We're gonna get your brother, and we're gonna go back home, and we're gonna get married, and we're gonna have a baby. We're gonna be _fine._ Zen is what I'm sayin'."

I had to laugh at him. "Wait, we're going to get _married_? Didn't you just say the other night that a ring on your finger wasn't going to make any difference?"

"Well, yeah, but now there's a baby comin'. No kid a' mine is gonna be a bastard," he explained.

I laughed again. "Well, I think that ship's already sailed, but that's sweet." I kissed him. "So are you proposing, then?" I teased.

Daryl got up and looked around the room. Then he left for a minute, leaving me to wonder what the hell he was up to. When he came back, Daryl dropped to one knee, and goddamn it if I didn't get choked up. "Funny Girl, you are the most amazin' woman I've ever met. Honest to God, I never thought I'd snag someone as smart and hilarious and smokin' hot as you. Didn't think it could get much better 'n that but now you're gonna have my baby. I love you so fuckin' much. Will you marry me?"

Now I was bawling but managed a "YES!" Outside the curtain, I heard a muffled squeal, and I realized that someone out there was eavesdropping, but I didn't care. Daryl slipped a small metal band on my finger that somehow fit just about right, and then kissed me and scooped me into a giant hug. We stayed that way for a few minutes, until we heard someone clear their throat on the other side of the curtain.

I had finally managed to stop crying (_damn hormones!)_, and I said, "Come in." It was Gabriela, who was grinning ear to ear. I could tell she didn't want to admit to listening in, but it wasn't like she could help it, given that we were only surrounded by a curtain. I grinned back at her and said, "The doofus proposed."

"Yessss! Congratulations!" Gabriela gushed. "I mean, I know I just met you guys, but seriously that's soooo sweet!" Tilting her head towards Daryl, she told me, "I was wondering what on earth he was up to when he asked me if we had anything 'like a ring.' The only thing I could find were these metal bands that go to the Xray, but I guess that sufficed."

Daryl was once again squeezed into the bed next to me, his arm wrapped around my shoulder. "I'll get ya a better one soon," he promised.

"Don't you dare," I replied. "This is the one I want. It's perfect." I seriously could not stop smiling.

"I'm sorry to break the party up, but I do need to get your vitals again," Gabriela apologized. "I'm going to see if I can get you released to a regular room," she told me, with a conspiratorial wink. She took my blood pressure along with a little more blood, and then gave me a thorough going-over. She said she'd have some dinner brought up for us and would give a good report to the doctor.

When she left, Daryl nuzzled my neck and said, "Thought _you_ didn't care so much about marriage, either."

I smiled and kissed him again and said, "You made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

After dinner, the doctor – Doctor Ward, was his name – returned and officially released me from the infirmary. It was pretty obvious he was quite tickled with the engagement and was relieved that we had both come around relatively quickly to the idea of being parents. He gave me orders to get plenty of sleep, be sure to eat on a regular basis and drink plenty of water. I was also under orders to come back tomorrow for a check.

For whatever reason, Louie had requested that the two of us stay in his suite. I was pretty shocked because I figured from his reaction when he came to see me that he'd have no interest in catching up. Gabriela was getting off her shift, so she led the way through a maze of corridors to a very nondescript looking doorway. "Here you are. The vice-presidential suite," she joked. "You guys are pretty lucky because you'll get a private room. The rest of us are in dorms."

"Thanks for everything," I told her. "I hope we can hang out some time while I'm here."

She smiled. "Yeah, definitely. I work tomorrow, so I'll see you when you come in for your appointment." With that, she handed me the key and headed off down the hallway.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I opened the door, but I was pleasantly surprised. Louie's suite wasn't grand in any sense, but it wasn't too shabby. "Hello? Louie?" I called out, but it appeared no one was home. We noticed our backpacks had been left inside the door for us, and I was relieved to also see my guitar looking no worse for the wear.

There were several rooms to Louie's suite: what was obviously the master bedroom, along with a living area and another small room which looked like it had been Louie's office until probably the last hour, when the desk was pushed aside and a bed had been brought in. The overall feeling was pretty industrial, with the cinderblock walls and the dropped ceiling, but it was comfortable.

"It almost feels like," I said, as I walked around our room, "a woman lives here." That brought me up short. Who's to say that a woman _didn't _live here? Louie was an adult. Maybe he had a girlfriend or was married. I sat down on the bed, intrigued. "It's crazy…. This is just crazy," was all I could say.

While I was lost in thought, Daryl had stripped down to his boxers and was washing up with the basin of water, soap, and fresh towels that had been left for us. "Shit, it's like bein' in the fuckin' Hilton or something," he laughed.

I laughed, too, and joined him. The ring on my finger kept catching my attention, and each time I thought about what it meant, it actually gave me a little thrill. _Who'd have figured I'd still be so traditional anymore? _ Daryl noticed me staring at it and grabbed me around the waist, kissing me again. His hand slid down onto my still flat belly, and he left it there for a minute.

I smiled up at him. "You can't tell me you even feel anything," I teased.

"No, but I will soon," he replied with something like awe.

I reached my hand up to the back of his head and pulled him down to kiss me. We lay back on the bed, and he covered every square inch of me with kisses. When he slid into me, it was slow and gentle and unlike anything I think we'd ever done before. It was almost…reverential. As he was about to come, he moaned "I love you" into my ear. I almost started crying again. In fact, afterwards, when we were curled up next to each other, I did start crying.

"Hey, hey, darlin'," Daryl whispered. "What's th' matter?"

"Oh, it's probably just the fucking hormones," I hiccupped. "Or maybe it's just been one hell of a day. I'm actually happier right now that I ever would have thought possible, considering the shitstorm that's happened today. I really can't wait to go home and tell everyone our news."

He smiled and pulled me closer, and we drifted off to sleep. Later, I woke up to the voices of Louie and a woman, talking and laughing quietly, and then I heard their door shut and I fell back to sleep.

0000000

When I woke up, I had no idea what time it was, but it felt like it must be noon at least. Our room had no windows, so I lit a candle that was on the bedside table. Daryl was stretched out in bed, sound asleep, and it made me smile just to see him there. I looked at the metal band on my finger. It made me feel so different, but maybe that's just because I hadn't worn jewelry in such a long time - if you could consider an accessory for medical equipment jewelry. There really wasn't much of an occasion to, back at home. I had a few pairs of earrings that I wore if I was "dressing up," but the only other pieces of jewelry I had were my wedding band and engagement ring from Ty that were tucked away in my place back at home. Those were pretty modest, even by the standards of pre-ZA life, but I was absolutely just as happy with this ring from Daryl.

I heard Louie moving around in the main room, so I thought I'd get up and make another overture of kinship to him. Opening my backpack, it was clear that it had been searched before it ended up here. I wasn't too surprised, and I was happy to note that everything was in there before was still there, only now it was clean and neatly folded. I pulled on some clothes and went out to talk to Louie.

Opening the door, I squinted momentarily in the bright light afforded by the window. Then I realized it wasn't Louie who was up and about, it was his girlfriend/wife/woman he slept with last night. When she saw me, she smiled widely. "Oh, hi! You must be Stella! I hope I didn't wake you," she said excitedly.

"No, I was up," I replied. "And you are…?"

"Oh! I'm Kendra. I'm Louis's wife," she said, extending her hand. "I'm your sister-in-law!" She smiled as the relationship dawned on her.

That brought me up short. Wow, Louie was _married_. I saw her looking at me expectantly. "I'm sorry. It's just been a lot of new information in a very short amount of time," I apologized.

Kendra clapped her hands. "I heard! You're going to have a baby! How exciting!"

"Yeah, I guess that is pretty exciting," I admitted. Then I looked down at my hand. "Oh, and I guess I'm getting married, too."

Kendra ran over to me and gave me a giant hug. Pulling back quickly, she made an attempt to corral her enthusiasm. "I'm sorry! I just get too carried away sometimes. Louis's always telling me not to get carried away!"

I tried to keep myself from rolling my eyes and bit back a smartass comment about the things Louie told her. "It's OK," was all I said.

"Here, let me make you some tea. It's herbal. No caffeine!" Kendra busied herself at a small wood stove in the corner, pouring some water in a kettle. I watched her, marveling at the fact that my _little _brother was _married_. She was a tiny, cute Asian woman who looked like she was probably a wee bit older than Louie. Maybe twenty-five or twenty-six. What was so amusing to me was that she was so _cheerful, _and it seemed completely genuine. I wouldn't have figured grouchy, self-centered Louie would have found such a bubbly wife.

As we sat down for tea, there was a knock at the door. Someone was delivering breakfast for us: toast, jam, juice, fresh fruit, and what looked like hard-boiled eggs. Kendra set the tray down on the table. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what you guys ate. We can have something else brought up when Daryl gets up, if you want."

I just shook my head, still amazed that there was room service at this place. I was much more used to the rougher, DIY kind of lifestyle that I experienced at home and pretty much everywhere else I'd seen. This was completely new to me. "Um, is Louie here?" I asked.

"Oh, no! He's been gone for about an hour now. He gets up super-early to go to work. He's the assistant to the chief operating officer, you know," she told me.

That piqued my curiosity. As I ate, I asked her about how Pegasus was run. She filled me in on all the details. There were about 1,200 people who lived there, and everyone was an "integral part" of the operation, according to Kendra. All the labor that needed to be accomplished was divided among all of the residents, from farming to security to clothing production to utilities. They had generators to power the whole compound, using wood harvested from the surrounding forest. They grew all their own food, and raised cattle, pigs, and chickens as well. Children were educated – and highly encouraged, Kendra said to me pointedly – in a central school so parents could work for the good of Pegasus. The place was run by a chief executive officer and chief operating officer, and Louie was part of the executive group.

"So you don't have elections or anything?" I asked.

Kendra seemed a little surprised. "No, Mr. diLeonardo is the CEO, and it's his operation. People who don't like it just leave."

"Do you have many people who leave?"

"Oh no! This is the best place for miles and miles! Who in their right mind would want to leave?" She put her hand on mine. "And I'm so glad you guys found your way here! It makes me so happy to know that Louis's sister is alive and well and _here_!"

She seemed so excited that I didn't have the heart to tell her I was planning to leave the minute I was able to convince Henry to come with me. That reminded me I needed to find out about Henry. "Louie says that our brother Henry is here. How is he?"

"Oh, we don't see a whole lot of Henry. We're very busy, you know." Seeing my look of concern, Kendra quickly added, "He's doing very well here! He has a job and an apartment, and seems very happy."

That only made me feel slightly better. "I'd really like to see him. I've missed him so much."

Kendra smiled. "I understand, but Louis says it's better not to spring this on him too suddenly. You know how he is."

I got the feeling she didn't really know how he was at all, but I just silently ate my toast. I heard the door open behind me, and Daryl came out, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Hey love, want some breakfast? This is Kendra, Louie's wife."

As he approached, she jumped out of her chair and gave him a hug. He looked at me over her head, wide-eyed in surprise. I shrugged. Immediately, she apologized again for her excess of enthusiasm. "I'm just so excited to meet you! And congratulations! So much exciting news! Can I get you some tea? Is this food OK? I can get you something else, if you'd like."

Daryl just shook his head and sat down. "This is fine," he mumbled. Regardless, Kendra rushed to pour him some tea.

I leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Welcome to the family."

After breakfast, Kendra took us on a tour of the facilities, and I quickly realized life was not the same for people who weren't executives. Not that it was a sweatshop or anything, but it was clear that the rest of Pegasus was working their asses off. They weren't having breakfast brought to their rooms, that's for damn sure.

Like Gabriela said, the rest of the residents of Pegasus lived in dorms. Families had private spaces, but those were just carved out with plywood partitions or clothesline and sheets, kind of like how Danny's family did it back on the banks of the Ohio River. There was a pretty obvious social order, and Kendra wasn't shy about pointing it out. The skilled worker - the doctors and nurses, teachers, scientists, and those who managed others - had more privacy and nicer digs than the general laborers. As we passed the showers, Kendra mentioned in an offhand way that the executives had heated shower facilities, and my irritation at the clear caste system in place here was momentarily pushed aside at the thought of a long. hot. shower.

In the basement were the laundry, the boiler room, and the "production rooms," as Kendra put it. Those were places where people built new items and repaired those that were broken. It was weird to look out and see twenty people at tables, sewing with needle and thread on torn clothing. The atmosphere wasn't one of drudgery, though. The people chatted and laughed as they worked, and said hi to Kendra as we passed through.

We stopped at a doorway that looked out over the fields. Kendra told us about their food production, and how they were even able to irrigate their fields during droughts. As I was in charge of our small-by-comparison town garden back at home, I made a mental note that I needed to come back here and find out how they did it. If they could irrigate hundreds of acres, I should be able to pull it off in a garden a mere fraction of the size. Kendra bragged that in the last six years that Pegasus had been in operation, they never had a year where they couldn't feed their people. As skeptical as I was trying to remain about the place, even I was impressed by that.

Up on the second floor, we saw the kitchen and cafeteria. Once again, it was at least three times the size of the one back at home, and people scurried around, getting lunch ready. I had a feeling we would not be dining in the cafeteria while we were here. Also on the second floor was the school. There were at least two hundred kids, separated out by age into groups, from toddlers to teens. Teachers were hard at work, drilling math facts, reading stories, and lecturing on American history. Like the adults, the kids seemed to be pretty happy. We peeked our heads into the infants' room, where the workers cooed and cuddled with the babies who were wrapped up in pink and blue blankets.

"That's where your little one will be!" crowed Kendra. I shot Daryl a wide-eyed look behind Kendra's back, and he just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Throughout the tour, I kept looking for anyone who could possibly be Henry. I saw a couple of boys who _might_ be him, but I could never be sure. When I asked Kendra where he worked, she was very vague, saying only, "Oh, he must be around here somewhere."

The infirmary was also on the second floor, and as it was about time for my doctor's appointment, I told Kendra she could let us off the tour there. Daryl and I just stood there, speechless in the quiet wake of Kendra's constant chatter and good cheer. Gabriela spotted us and ushered us inside, and I was so grateful to be with someone who actually acted like a normal person, not a Pegasus cheerleader. I was dying to get her alone later and get the _real_ scoop on how things went here. But it was not the time for that now. She showed me to an exam room, gave me a gown, and told me to get changed.

I didn't have the stomach yet to have Daryl as a witness to a full-on pelvic examination, and he was clearly very relieved when I told him he could sit outside until the doctor was done. There was a female doctor there today, Dr. Chang, but she shared Dr. Ward's enthusiasm for pregnancy. Once the exam was done, and she brought Daryl into the room and informed us both that I was indeed pregnant, probably about a six weeks along. I got the same advice from her: eat right, drink plenty of water, sleep, and come back in two weeks for a check up. I had no plans to be here in two weeks, but I smiled and nodded.

Gabriela came into the room after Dr. Chang left. "You guys all right?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're fine...I think," Daryl replied, glancing over at me.

I smiled at them both. "I'm OK. When do you get off work?" I asked Gabriela. "I'd love to chat with you." I tried to sound casual, but I was really dying to ask her some questions.

"Come back around three," she told me.

As Daryl and I walked back to our room, he muttered to me, "What do you think of this place?"

"Fucking weird, and I don't like it. We need to find Henry and get the fuck back home. I'm not having my baby here, that's for damn sure."


	8. Chapter 8

**...Sibling rivalry and Stella parties with the upper crust.**

Unfortunately, when we got back, Kendra was waiting with lunch for all of us, so we both reluctantly took a seat at the table. She waited expectantly for us to tell her something about the doctor's appointment, but when I didn't offer any information, she jumped in. "Soooo….how did it go?"

"Everything looks fine so far," I told her. Once again, I was completely ravenous, so I immediately started stuffing my face. I was starting to see that my life the next nine months was going consist largely of eating and sleeping. Knowing that conversation was unavoidable as long as we were sitting here with Kendra, I decided to use the time to try to find out what the hell was going on here. "So I was wondering, do any of the, um, basement people ever complain that they don't have such nice things as the people upstairs?"

Kendra looked surprised. "Well, no. Why would they complain? They get fed and clothed and housed, just the same as everyone else."

"Yeah, but it's so much nicer, the further upstairs you go." I smiled, struggling to keep my tone light-hearted.

"Well, the skilled people need to get rewarded for their hard work," Kendra explained. "We value their brain power here."

"Seems like the people downstairs are working pretty damn hard," I replied, "doing some pretty important work." Daryl put his hand on my leg, trying to warn me to back off.

"Oh yes, their work is important!" Kendra shot a glance at Daryl before she continued. "But between you and me, I don't think they really notice how different things are between them and us. It makes them happy enough just to contribute to the good of the organization!"

_That's what's so weird about it_. "Can they work their way up out of the basement?"

"Sure! Although not many of them do. To be honest, they are generally quite…simple." Kendra had a sad little look on her face when she said that, but then perked up. "But your brother is a good example of someone who worked his way up! He started out on the second floor with the middle managers when he was seventeen, and now look at him! Assistant to the C.O.O!" She smiled proudly.

_Not exactly working your way up from the bottom_. "Yeah, pretty amazing," I told her. "So do you know when Louie is going to see Henry again? I'd really like to see him."

"Soon, I'm sure! He's very busy, you know."

Jesus Christ was I getting tired of that excuse. "He should really know that he's going to be an uncle," I told her, knowing that mentioning the baby would dig in a little deeper with her.

And it had exactly the effect I was hoping. "Oh definitely! I will be sure to remind Louis about it!"

I stood up. "Wow, I'm really tired. I think I'm going to lie down for a while." I grabbed Daryl's hand to make him come with me.

Kendra beamed at me. "You do that! Need to take care of that little one!"

Daryl suddenly spoke for the first time since we'd sat down. "D'you have anyone here who fixes cars? Need to talk to 'em about gettin' the truck here and gettin' it runnin' again."

"Wellll," Kendra said slowly, "we don't have any _cars_ here, but I bet one of the mechanics down in the generator room might be able to help you."

Once safely in our room, I closed the door. I lay down on the bed and pulled Daryl down with me. I figured that the pillows and blankets would help muffle our conversation. I was actually glad at this minute for the demise of computers because that meant no spy cams or bugs in the room. We just needed to make sure that Kendra couldn't hear.

"Ugh, what is _wrong_ with her?" I whispered. "Did you hear her talking about the 'simple' people! So fucking patronizing! This place is run on slave labor! I don't buy for a second that they are just _satisfied_ with their life."

"Darlin', before ya go gettin' yourself all worked up, remember why we're here. Ya ain't gonna be able to save everyone here," Daryl quietly reminded me.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just hate that fucking attitude. I'm sure Henry is stuffed away somewhere in the basement. For his whole life, people were always saying the same thing about him, trying to steer him towards menial types of work, when he's actually a really smart kid!" I violently fluffed the pillow I'd been talking into.

"Not speakin' 'bout Henry now, but things've changed. Maybe there're people who're happy t' work a borin' job if it means keepin' a roof over their heads and food in their bellies." Daryl rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "Hell, I knew a lotta people like that when I was comin' up. I'm prob'ly one of 'em."

That brought me up short. I'd never thought about it like that before. Where I grew up, we were all encouraged to follow our dreams, as long as our dreams involved going to college, of course. I thought about it for a second. "Well, maybe you're right about _some_ of them, but I still have a feeling something is off here, and I intend to find out what it is."

"Well Nancy Drew, don't go gettin' us in trouble 'fore we can track down Henry," Daryl warned me. He sat up. "I'm gonna go see if I can find someone t' help me get the truck back here an' get it fixed so we have our getaway car ready. Y'know, for when the locals come after us with pitchforks an' torches and all." He leaned down and kissed me.

"OK. I think I really am going to take a nap. This damn baby is like a vampire, sucking all my energy," I joked and, as if on cue, yawned.

The mention of the baby made Daryl grin and kiss my belly. "Bye, kid. Let your mama sleep now."

Wow, it was unbelievably adorable to hear him talk to our unborn child. I wanted to grab him and pull him back to bed, but he was clearly on a mission, so I let him go. I turned off the lantern that was next to my bed and lay there in the dark for a few minutes, but my mind was racing and I couldn't sleep. I heard Kendra leave, so I got up and went back out to the living area. The clock out there said it was 1:15, so I had a little less than two hours to kill until Gabriela got off work. I don't know why, but I had a feeling that she was a person who could give me an honest opinion about what was going on here.

I decided that until then, I was going to go ahead and be Nancy Drew and do some snooping. I started in the apartment. Louie's desk was in our room, so I went back in and went through all the drawers, but there wasn't a thing in them. No paper, not a pencil, not even a paperclip. That seemed weird, but it was pretty likely that they cleaned everything out because they knew we would be staying in there. The main room just had the wood stove, a couch, and a table and chairs. Nothing really to search through there. By the time I got to the bottom drawer of Louie's dresser, I was convinced that my brother was a complete automaton, with no interests or feelings of any sort.

Opening the bottom drawer, I got a complete surprise. Underneath a folded blanket was a manila folder, full of pictures. He must have taken them with him when they fled home. I dumped them onto the floor and was instantly swept away by the memories. There were photos of family vacations and holiday celebrations, school pictures and a family portrait that had been taken before Mom left the second time. It took my breath away how much I looked like her. And how much Louie was the spitting image of Dad. And oh, how I missed my dad. He was smiling proudly in each and every one of the photos he was in. Clearly, the most loved photo was one of just Louie and Mom. He had to be about four or five, so it would have been right before she took off. He was on her lap grinning, and she was mid-laugh. The photo was creased and worn, the result of being handled repeatedly over many, many years.

Suddenly, I heard Kendra at the door. _Fuck!_ Quickly, I tossed the photos back in the envelope and stuffed it under the blanket, shoving the drawer closed. I managed to dart out of the room and leap over the back of the couch, trying to affect a relaxed position, just as the door opened. "Yes, yes!" Kendra was saying to whoever was in the hallway, "We'll see you tonight!" Seeing me laying on the couch, she immediately apologized, "Oh, I'm so sorry! Were you sleeping? I didn't expect to see you there!"

I was so keyed up that it was hard to keep my voice even when I replied, "I just felt kind of claustrophobic in that dark little room."

"It does feel kind of like a tomb in there, doesn't it! Are you feeling all right? You look a little flushed," she said with alarm, after catching a glimpse of my face.

"Oh, no, I think I'm fine. Just a little warm is all! Guess that's just part of being pregnant, right?" I felt like my grin was a little too broad, and my tone a little too anxious, but Kendra didn't seem to notice.

"So I've heard, although I've never experienced it myself." For the first time, I noticed a slightly sharp tone cut through the cheer. "Louis keeps saying we need to wait because he's got so much going on here." Then she seemed to remember herself and the edge was gone. "But, you know, no method is foolproof, so I just keep hoping for a happy accident! Don't tell him that, though! Hee hee." She walked over to the table and poured me a glass of water from the pitcher. "Here, drink this. Oh, guess what! We are having a dinner with the executives tonight! I'm so excited to have you meet all the wives! They are just the best, most important group of ladies here!"

Already, I was thinking getting stabbed in the eye with a fork sounded better than this dinner, but I just silently drank my water.

Kendra continued. "I'll need to find you guys something to wear. It's so fun because we always get dressed up for these dinners!" She eyed me. "I think Daryl might be able to wear one of Louis's jackets, and I bet you and Melinda wear the same size, so we can borrow a dress from her."

I tried not to grin. I had a feeling getting Daryl into a jacket and tie was going to be quite an experience. I glanced up at the clock and noticed that it was already 2:45. "Oh, I need to be going. I'm supposed to meet up with Gabriela."

Kendra gave me a puzzled look. "Gabriela…? Oh wait, you mean the _nurse_? She probably has some test results for you, right?"

"Um, yeah, right." I knew that I shouldn't mention the fact that I was actually going to pump her for information, and I somehow understood that in Kendra's mind, Gabriela was not a person I should be socializing with. "So I'm going to go, and I'll be back shortly. What time is dinner?"

"Seven, but be sure to be back in time to get dressed. Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" Kendra crowed.

_Yep, going to be a total blast_, I thought ruefully. I headed out and made my way back down to the infirmary, but I didn't see Gabriela. Spotting me standing there, another nurse asked, "Hi! Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for Gabriela. Is she here?" I asked.

"Oh, no, she left early today. Her daughter was sick, so she went home to take care of her," the nurse explained. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"No, that's OK. I kind of just need to talk to her. Is she working tomorrow?" I tried to hide my disappointment. Patience was not a strong suit of mine, and I was dying to talk to someone _real_, as Kendra's veneer of enthusiasm was wearing on me.

"She's on schedule tomorrow night. She should be here by 4. Are you _sure_ I can't help you?" The nurse was looking at me curiously now.

I forced a smile. "No, that's OK. It's just a…private matter. Thanks, though." I purposefully walked out of the clinic, even though I had no real direction in mind. I wondered what Daryl was up to. He'd been gone a while. I made my way down to the basement, meeting the curious stares of the people I passed with a confident grin, like I had every reason in the world to be wandering around in the dank basement. I didn't want to ask for directions, though, because I was sure that they'd just send me back upstairs. Going through a door, I was suddenly blinded by bright sunlight. I had managed to find my way out to the farm.

Shading my eyes, I looked out into the fields which were teeming with activity. Almost immediately, I forgot the reason why I had come down to the basement in the first place and instead found my way to what seemed to be the main office of the agricultural operation. A woman inside the door looked up at me when I came in. "Can I help you?"

"Hi! I'm Stella, Louie - I mean _Louis_ Marshall's sister. I'm...new here. I was out walking and, well, I'm very impressed with your operation. Can you talk to me about how you keep everything running so efficiently? Back at home, I run our town's garden, but it's _nothing_ compared to this!" I said, for the first time since I got here not having to manufacture my excitement.

The woman was obviously happy to find someone who shared her enthusiasm over farming, and was only too glad to talk my ear off about the operation. She told me her name was Elizabeth, and she was one of the plant scientists who was working to develop more productive food crops. We chattered away for an hour about her work, until I suddenly realized I had a place to be. "Oh shit! I need to get back upstairs. There's this dinner thing I have to go to tonight, and I guess I have to get ready for it," I told Elizabeth, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, wow! I heard those executive dinners were pretty awesome! Do you know they have _wine_ there?" Elizabeth told me excitedly.

"They don't have wine anywhere else here?" I asked.

"Nope, officially this place is dry. They say that drinking interferes with our productivity." Elizabeth shrugged as she told me this.

That seemed rather Big Brother-ish to me, but I didn't have time to say anything more. "I'll let you know tomorrow," I told her with a smile. "It's not like I've got a whole lot going on, so I'll come back to see if I can be of use to you guys here." With that, I hurried back inside and thankfully was able to find my way back upstairs with no problem.

Kendra and Louie were both in the living room when I got back. "Oh, there you are!" Kendra exclaimed. "I was about to send someone out to look for you." I started to explain myself but was interrupted by a knock at the door. "That must be your outfit!" She went to open the door, and a young man came in with a gorgeous purple beaded dress that seemed ridiculously fancy for just going to dinner. "Hang on, Taylor," she said to the guy who brought the dress. "She might need some alterations." We went into my room, and I quickly changed into the dress.

"Perfect, perfect!" Kendra crowed, clapping her hands. "Taylor, you can go," she told him with a wave of her hand.

It looked slightly worn at the edges, but gazing at myself in the mirror, I was shocked at how amazing I looked. I had not worn a dress like this in at least a decade. Slipping on the heels that Kendra handed me, I couldn't help but smile. _Just wait 'til Daryl sees me in this._ Which reminded me. "Hey, where is Daryl?" I asked Kendra.

"Hmm?" she said distractedly. "I'm not sure. Louis, honey," she called into the other room. "Did you talk to Daryl about dinner? You said you would."

"I sent him a message." Louie walked to the doorway of my room. "The messenger came back and told me Daryl didn't think he would make it. He was caught up in some kind of task down in the _basement_." Louie smiled smugly at me. "You know this is probably not his kind of thing anyway."

"What? He didn't actually say that!" The thing was, Louie was right about a fancy dinner not really being Daryl's "thing," but the way he said it made me want to pull a big sister move on him and slap him that smug grin off his face. I wasn't sure if I was madder at Louie or Daryl right then.

Louie shrugged. "I'm just telling you what I was told." He looked me over. "That dress will do just fine, but, um, you definitely need a shower."

Again, his tone inspired violent tendencies in me, but it's kind of hard to stay mad when you are facing the prospect of your first hot shower in years. We had hot showers at home, but with a solar water heater, it was usually summer when you had enough hot water for a decent shower, and that's not exactly the time when you most appreciate it. So loaded with a fluffy towel and a basket full of Kendra's toiletries, I headed off for the executive showers. Like the apartment, there was an industrial quality to it, but under the steaming spray it could have been Donald Trump's bathroom for how it seemed to me. It. Was. Magical. I forgot all about how angry I was with Louie for being such a dickhead, and how pissed I was at Daryl for leaving me to fend for myself at dinner, and how creeped out I was by Kendra's cheer and the general atmosphere of this place. I think I might have stayed in there all evening, but I heard Kendra's voice from outside reminding me that I needed to get a move on.

Back in the apartment, Kendra did my hair, sweeping it up into a high ponytail. She also actually had some make-up, or a few things that functioned as make-up. "Not exactly the Clinique counter," she joked, darkening my eyes with a pot of something black which may have been actual charcoal. Once I looked at myself in the mirror, I was stunned. I couldn't say anything, I just stared. "You look _gorgeous!_" Kendra declared, then frowned at the expression on my face. "And you should look happy about it."

"I'm just pissed Daryl bailed on me and won't see me all dressed up like this," I admitted.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be here when we get back. And it probably is better he's not coming. Louis is right; it's not really his kind of crowd." Kendra stood up and straightened her dress, giving her hair a pat.

Her tone made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in indignation. I opened my mouth to say something, and then thought better of it. It wouldn't do any good and there was no sense in starting a fight now.

It felt like the longest dinner of my life. I thought that I would rather have had ten dinners with David from back at the trailer park than listen to these phony douchebags yammer on like they did. They definitely were drinking, and in large quantities. The drunker they got, the more they talked, to the point no one was even listening to each other. They just talked over one another. Listening to the women was like being back at the lunch table in the cafeteria in high school. Just idiotic gossip about people who weren't there. Then they latched onto the idea of my wedding, and I had to hear them go on and on about how the exact right way to do it was, and they were all just _so willing_ to help me plan _every_ last little detail. And this was all before dessert! I managed to excuse myself as soon as the dishes were cleared away, saying, what with the baby and all, I really shouldn't be staying out too late. I have to say, being pregnant provided me with a whole raft of excuses that everyone was all too willing to believe.

It was a relief to get out into the quiet hallway, and I slipped off the heels that I'd been wearing. They were slightly too small, and I had a small blister on my pinky toe that was absolutely killing me. I padded back to our room, all out of sorts, and opened the door to see Daryl lounging comfortably on the couch. "Hey, where've you-" he started, but the words died away when he saw me. He got up and walked towards me. "Goddamn, Funny Girl, look at you."

"Yeah, and you could have been looking at me all night if you'd come to the fucking dinner!" I snapped at him. I angrily started pulling out the million pins that Kendra had used to keep my hair in place.

There was a look of genuine confusion on his face. "What dinner? Is that where ya been this whole time?"

"Yes! Louie said he sent someone to give you a message about it, and the messenger said you told him you weren't coming." My anger started to fade as I gathered from Daryl's expression that this was all news to him.

"Darlin', I'm sorry. I didn't hear nothin' about any dinner."

My anger surged again full force, directed at Louie now. "That little piece of shit! He's such a fucking liar! He didn't want you to come to his fucking fancy ass dinner because you aren't 'high class' enough for him." I tried to yank another pin out, but it got tangled. "Fuck! I fucking hate this place. Where is Henry? We need to find him so we can get the hell out of here!"

Daryl gently fished the errant pin out of my hair. "We'll find him, babe. You work on trackin' down Henry, and I'll work on plannin' our escape. I got a feelin' that it's not gonna be as easy as just strollin' out the front gate." He stopped and took another long look at me. "Goddamn," he said again, and I couldn't help but smile at his admiration. I did look pretty damn hot tonight. Daryl took my face in his hands and kissed me, hard. That was enough to make me short of breath, and I opened my mouth, snaking my tongue around his. His hand slid up my bare thigh, and I reached down and undid his jeans. I stroked him and he stroked me and we both groaned with pleasure. Then he turned me around and opened the zipper of my dress. Bending me over the table, he ran his tongued down my spine. I slipped off my panties, he yanked down his jeans, and then he was inside me. He fucked me right there on the table, and when we finished, he carried me back to the bedroom.

I left my dress in a heap in on the floor and crawled into bed with him, still unable to get rid of the unease that was gnawing in the pit of my stomach. Tomorrow, I resolved, I was going to look for Henry myself.


	9. Chapter 9

**...Face off with Louie and Stella gets some help from a new friend. **

**I had a thought yesterday that I would love to see my story animated. Is there an app for that? If not, someone needs to get on that. :D**

When I woke up, my morning sickness was back with a vengeance. I discovered if didn't move, I felt a little bit less awful so I just lay there motionless. Daryl rolled over, resting his hand on my belly. I really did like that new habit of his.

"Morning, darlin'," he said quietly.

"Morning." Already, the feeling of dread that I went to bed with was weighing on my mind. I sighed.

"We'll be outta here soon," Daryl said, reading my thoughts. "I think they're gonna let me and some guys go out an' bring the truck in soon. Prob'ly just have to push it. Shouldn't be too bad if we get enough help. An' I got my hands back on my crossbow yesterday, too."

"Really, how did you swing that?"

"Right place at the right time. Some dude sliced his hand on some barb wire, an' they needed a replacement on the guard wall. They were kinda suspicious, but if I just pretend I'm a dumb hick, no one gives me a second look."

I laughed, but immediately regretted it, changing to a groan midway through.

"Y'all right?" Daryl asked.

"Ugh, fucking morning sickness." I rolled over on my side and curled up in a ball.

Daryl kissed me lightly on the forehead. "I'm sorry, babe. Can I do anythin'?"

I sighed again. "No, I don't think so. I'm just going to lay here for a while."

"OK, I'm gonna head downstairs then." He turned on the lantern and got dressed, then headed out. I heard Kendra chirp a greeting at him, but he just mumbled a response and left.

I was wishing I could go back to sleep, but after laying there for a little while longer, it didn't seem like that was going to happen. Reluctantly I got up and got dressed, hoping that there was something nice and bland for breakfast. The minute I opened the door, Kendra sang out a "Good morning!"

I was still pissed off at Louie about his lies, and by default Kendra was implicated in that. I didn't say anything to her, just eyed the breakfast tray. I grabbed a piece of dry toast and poured myself a cup of tea. Kendra gave me a little frown. "Morning sickness?" she said.

I just nodded.

"Well, my friend Melinda said that the best thing she did when she had morning sickness was-" Kendra started.

That was enough for me. "I don't give a flying fuck what your friend Melinda said," I growled at her. Kendra looked at me like I'd just slapped her, but once I started, I couldn't stop. "You act like your life is just so amazing, but it's so completely fucking fake. Louie is a manipulative asshole, and I don't think there's a thought that goes through your head that hasn't been suggested by him first. I don't know how you can even stand getting up in the morning. You have no purpose other than to chatter on vacantly with your equally vacant friends, while the actual important work around here gets done by people you look down your nose at. I can't fucking _wait_ to get out of here. If you would quit hiding Henry from me, me and my 'idiot' boyfriend – don't even try to deny that's what you think of him – would get the hell out of your hair."

Kendra sat there with her mouth open, and I saw tears spring to her eyes. I felt a momentary pang of guilt because I really did just say some truly horrible things to her. But then I thought about her complicity in all the shit that was going on here, and my resolve hardened. Without another word, I stormed out.

I had decided that I was going to find Henry myself, whether Louie approved or not, but I had no idea where to look. Figuring they had him stuffed away in one of the workshops in the basement, I headed downstairs. The atmosphere was very different today that it was on the day Kendra took us on a tour. The doors to all the factory rooms were shut tight, and there was nothing on them to identify what was going on inside, not like that would necessarily help me. After a few minutes of going up and down the halls, I screwed up my courage and knocked on a door.

The door opened just a crack, and a man poked his head out, eyeing me suspiciously. "Can I help you?"

I tried to catch a glimpse of what was going on around him, but all I could hear was the strangely eerie noise of what sounded like a hundred people silently sewing. The light inside was so dim, it was hard to see anything else. I tried to look confident and official, saying, "Yes, I need to speak to Henry Marshall. His brother needs to see him."

The man's suspicion deepened. "I've never seen you before."

"Oh yes, I'm new on the job. Today is my first day," I lied.

"Well, you are in the wrong place. There is no Henry Marshall in this room." Now the man was openly glaring at me.

"Oh, wow! I'm sorry!" I shot him what I hoped was a charming grin. "I guess I must have gotten turned around. First day and all! Well, thanks for your time!" I turned around and walked in what I hoped was a purposeful manner down the hall. Only when I finally heard the man close the door behind him, was I able to breathe again. My heart pounded in my ears, and I wiped beads of sweat off my forehead.

I quickly realized that this method of trying to locate Henry was probably going to draw a lot of unwanted attention to me. Unfortunately, I had no other ideas. I continued to walk the halls, quickening my pace whenever I saw someone approach, giving them what I hoped looked like a professional nod when they passed. As I wandered, I began to notice that there were all sorts of posters on the walls. They kind of reminded me of ones that I'd seen in textbooks, ones that the government made during World War II to get people on board with the war effort.

_We are counting on YOU to keep Pegasus moving forward!_

_Positive attitudes are the fuel for our generators!_

_Stop trouble in its tracks – report suspicious behavior to supervisors!_

I was half-expecting to see "four legs good, two legs bad" or "some animals are more equal than others" somewhere. There was something very unsettling about the posters, and it absorbed my thoughts until I realized I had wandered out into the garden again. It actually made me chuckle, how I was just subconsciously drawn here. I opened the door to the ag office and spotted Elizabeth pouring over some information in a notebook. She didn't notice me come in so I cleared my throat, and she jumped about a mile. There was a look of panic on her face for a minute before she recovered.

"Hi! It's Stella, right?" she asked, forcing a smile, casually folding up one of the pages from the notebook, and stuffing it in her pocket.

"Yeah, that's me. I'm sorry to startle you like that. You look like you were involved in something pretty important," I replied.

"Oh yeah, busy time of year, you know. Just looking over some of our production stats so far. So what can I do for you?" she asked, clearly wanting to change the subject.

I let my curiosity go and told her that I'd love for her to put me to work. "It's pretty boring upstairs. No one seems to do _anything_," I complained.

"I'm sure that there's all sorts of important stuff going on behind closed doors," Elizabeth offered. "Are you sure Mr. Marshall won't care that you're down here? Executives don't generally do farm work."

"Well, I really don't care what _Louie_ thinks. And I'm hardly an executive. Back at home, I'm just a humble garden manager," I laughed. "Oh, and by the way, they _do_ have wine at those executive dinners, and man do they put away some alcohol!"

That seemed to put Elizabeth at ease a bit. She smiled and then told me, "Well, we could always use help with the harvest, but…are you familiar with data collection techniques?"

My eyes lit up. I was such a science geek, the mention of facts and statistics got my heart beating faster. "Absolutely! I was a botany grad student when the virus hit."

"Oh, fantastic!" Elizabeth took me down to the lab and explained that they were assessing the effect of a new pesticide on bean yields. "It's a little harder to crunch the numbers these days, what without any computer assistance. Hope your math skills aren't too rusty!"

Pretty soon, both of us were working in silence, absorbed in the task at hand. At about the time I noticed I wasn't feeling sick anymore and my stomach was actually growling, Elizabeth suggested we go to lunch. The prospect of eating with a bunch of scientists as opposed to Kendra was extremely appealing to me. I was chatting with Elizabeth and another scientist as we entered the building, when I caught a glimpse of a kid who I thought was Henry. I stopped in my tracks, willing my eyes to adjust to the darkness so I could be sure. Elizabeth, noticing I wasn't with them, stopped and looked curiously at me, but I just waved her on.

The kid was definitely in the right age range. He was tall and skinny, with a head of wild, dark curls. He had his nose buried in what appeared to be an ancient textbook. It _had _to be Henry. I opened my mouth to call his name when my line of sight was suddenly blocked by a very large, very muscular man. "Mr. Marshall would like to see you," he told me, and it was clear there was no refusing this information.

The goon on my heels, I stormed up to Louie's office, the fire of my temper growing with every step. I burst through the door. "What the _fuck_, Louie?"

Louie seemed to be a little taken aback by what was probably visible smoke pouring out of my ears at this point. He quickly recovered and, putting on his assistant-to-the-C.O.O. voice, asked, "Can you explain what you were doing down in the _agricultural_ center?" He spit the word out like it tasted bad.

"Um, oh, I don't know. Maybe doing something _worthwhile_. You know, _contributing to the organization_," I spit back at him.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "That is really not your place here." Before I could respond to that load of bullshit, he continued. "And what were you doing wandering around the basement all morning?"

"What do you think? I was looking for Henry! Because _you_ clearly aren't in any hurry to let me see him." I could feel myself approaching the point of no return where my temper was concerned, so I took a deep breath so that I wouldn't lose it completely.

"_He _doesn't want to see you. I told him you were here, and well, he freaked out. Then I told him that Ty was dead and that you had a new boyfriend, and then he really lost it." That smug smile was back on Louie's face, and I had to grip onto the edge of his desk so that I didn't launch myself over it at him.

"You fucking piece of shit! Of course he would be upset if you just dumped all that shit on him!" I felt horribly guilty, though, that my presence would cause Henry such anguish. I put my head in my hands. Then a thought occurred to me. "I _know_ you lied about telling Daryl about that fucking dinner last night. I'm sure you haven't even told Henry I was here," I hissed at him.

"No, Henry is well-aware that you are here." He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "And seriously, even _you_ can't think that Daryl belonged at an executive dinner. That's not exactly his, um, _style_? Interesting choice you made there, after being married to a smart, successful entrepreneur like Ty. Are you slumming it, or were your choices just that limited?"

I let out a strangled scream of frustration. It was a Herculean effort to keep my hands to myself. I was well-aware that this is exactly the sort of reaction Louie was hoping to get from me, but goddammit if he couldn't push my buttons like no other. "_What is wrong with you?" _I demanded. "What the fuck happened to you that made you like this?"

Louie raised an eyebrow. "Uh, did you _miss_ the shitstorm that went down? You know, the zombies and all? Who the hell knows what _you_ were doing because _you_ were long gone. It was just me and Dad and Henry, on our own. And then when Dad died, _I_ was the one who had to deal with Henry. And let me tell you, it wasn't pretty. Nobody wanted to let us in because he was so batshit crazy, until they finally accepted us here. Pegasus saved our damn _lives_."

That was probably the most honest thing I'd heard Louie say the entire time I was here. Against my better judgment, I started to feel something like sympathy for him. In a much calmer tone, I pleaded with him, "Please, just let me talk to Henry. I _know_ I can get him to understand."

"Understand what, that he should leave his home of the last six years with you and your white trash boyfriend?"

And just like that, the sympathy was gone. "Yes! Because he would be much happier in a _normal_ home with people who _cared_ about him."

Louie's eyes narrowed to slits. "You are so much like our goddamn _mother_, it's sad. Always running away."

That was like a punch in the stomach. "What the hell are you talking about? I was _at college_. Then I _got married_. Completely normal things for a person to do." He was unreal. And that nausea that I had been feeling all morning was suddenly coming back with a vengeance. "_I am NOT like our mother_." I had to get out of there ASAP. Puking was imminent. I started for the door.

"Yep, always fucking running away, just like Mom," Louie called after me.

"Fuck you, Louie," I managed, and then I threw up all over his floor. I didn't stop, just kept right on walking, slamming the door behind me.

The minute I was out the door, I was sobbing. I staggered down the hallway aimlessly, people jumping out of my way. My nose was running, I could barely walk because I was crying so hard, and I'm pretty sure I was wearing some of what I barfed up in Louie's office, so I didn't blame them. I rounded a corner and ran into Gabriela.

She was in the middle of what appeared to be a very intense conversation with some guy but stopped the minute she saw me. "Oh my God, Stella! What happened?" While I tried to stop sobbing long enough to form a coherent sentence, she told the man, "I'll see you at home tonight, Tomas." Tomas headed off down the hall, and she grabbed my arm. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up. You look like you've been having a hell of a morning!"

Gabriela led me into a bathroom, and I let her wipe my face while I took deep, shuddery breaths and attempted to get myself under control. Once I had finally calmed down, she asked, "So do you want to tell me what happened?"

I was only too relieved to relay to her the story of my fight with Louie. I don't think she grasped quite what an insult it was for Louie to compare me to my mother, but she definitely got the gist of it. "I just really want to go home," I said, for what felt like the millionth time. "I want to get Henry and go home. I know if I could talk to him, I could get him to understand he'd be so much happier if he came with me." Once that was out, I realized that Gabriela might be offended by my insinuation that this place _sucked_, but she just nodded her head in agreement.

"I think I might be able to help you," she told me. "We have this 'quiet room' in the infirmary for when a person is having behavioral issues. I know Henry enough to know he is kind of familiar with it." Gabriela frowned, but then added, "He hasn't been there for a while though."

That made me feel slightly better. "So what's your idea?"

"I could send a message down to his workspace, saying he was needed in the infirmary. It wouldn't seem too unusual; we bring people up here for different reasons all the time. Then I could send a message to you to come down, and you guys could talk." She shot me a sidelong glance. "I think we could get away with saying you were getting some counseling for emotional issues."

I had to grin at that. It had been an emotional roller coaster for me since we got here, and I'm sure there was more to blame than just raging hormones. "You have no idea how grateful I'd be to you if you did that for me. But I don't really understand why you'd stick your neck out for me like that."

Someone walked into the bathroom, so Gabriela suggested that we go for a walk. We headed outside, and I remembered why I hadn't gotten to talk to her yesterday. "How's your daughter?"

"What? Oh, that. She's fine." Gabriela admitted, "She wasn't actually sick. I was avoiding you. I had a feeling you were going to be asking me some very pointed questions, and I wasn't sure I should be giving a straight answer to Louis Marshall's sister. But clearly, I can see you have no loyalty to him."

I rolled my eyes. "Not even slightly."

"So back to what you asked about why I would help you. First of all, you came all this way to find your brother, so of course I'm going to help with that. But the other thing is that I think you might be able to help us." Gabriela casually shot a glance around her to make sure we didn't have an audience. Then she proceeded to confirm that my instincts were right; things here were not what they seemed to be. The workers in the basement were not happy little workers; they were more like forced labor. Management was indeed putting on a show for Daryl and I when Kendra took us on a tour. Those workers normally were stuck in a dim basement room for fourteen or more hours a day, slaving away over menial tasks, with only room and board in return for their hours of labor. There was no free time, no recreation, none of that. If people made a fuss, they were "highly encouraged" to take medication to make them less disruptive.

"And if they don't?" I almost didn't want to know the answer.

"You get the boot. They put you outside the gate with _nothing_. No food, no weapon, _nothing_." Gabriela looked off into the distance, clearly remembering the times she had witnessed this.

I shuddered, thinking about making our trip here with no way to defend ourselves. We would have been walker-food in minutes. "That's _horrible!_ There's got to be something we can do about it! This can't be allowed to continue!"

Gabriela gave me a smirk. "Don't worry. We're on it." She saw my questioning look, but shook her head. "I can't give you the details now." She nodded to indicate someone standing conspicuously out in the field, watching us. "Looks like someone has their eye on you." She stood up. "But like I said, I will be in touch with you about seeing Henry."

"Thank you so much. And if there is _anything_ I can do to help you, just say the word." I seriously couldn't believe how much she'd risk herself to help a virtual stranger.

She just smiled. "I'll let you know. And if anyone asks, this was a therapy session."

That was truer than she might have realized. I headed back to the apartment with almost a spring in my step. _I would get to see Henry tomorrow!_ As I got closer, my stomach knotted. I was dreading seeing Kendra again. I really did feel bad about being such a bitch to her earlier, as awful as she could be. I slowly opened the door, but Daryl was alone, pacing the room. He had a worried look on his face and came over to me quickly and grabbed me in a hug. "Are ya OK? I heard somethin' about some chick screamin' at one of the executives, and I had a feelin' it might be you."

Now that I'd got my emotions under control, I couldn't help but grin at the memory. "I fucking _puked on his floor!_"

That got a belly laugh out of Daryl. "Man, can't think of anyone who deserved that more'n him."

"Damn straight." Then I filled him in on what I'd learned from Gabriela and how she'd offered to help me see Henry. Frowning, I mentioned that I'd also had someone following me. "Is someone keeping tabs on you, too?"

"Don't think so. I think I've got 'em all convinced I'm all brawn and no brains." He flexed to underline his point, which got a laugh out of me. He clearly had some other news that he couldn't wait to tell me. "C'mere," he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the bedroom. "Got somethin' t' show ya."

I giggled. It was amazing how much my mood had changed since the morning. "Oh reeeeally? Is it bigger than a baby's arm?" Daryl shut the door behind him, and reached under the mattress. When he pulled his arm out, he had our .38 in his hands. "How the hell did you get that?" I had totally forgotten about it.

"We went out an' pushed the truck here. I snuck it out of the glove compartment. No one searched us when we came back in, so here we are." He looked at me with a frown. "Think that truck's as good as dead. Gonna have to come up with another way to get back home, and I think this'll come in handy."

I felt a cold pang of fear and thought about what Gabriela said about how people usually left Pegasus. "Yeah, I don't think they're going to send us home with a care package for the road, that's for damn sure."


	10. Chapter 10

**Stella FINALLY gets to see Henry and also discovers why Daryl has really been spending all that time in the basement. And OMG have you _seen_ the S4 trailer? Can't wait for October!**

So I was well-aware when we heard Kendra come in later that I was going to need to apologize. That part wasn't going to be nearly so hard as apologizing to Louie, but I knew that to be able to make things work for what was hopefully the short time we had left here, it had to happen.

"Well, I guess I might as well get this over with," I sighed to Daryl, putting down my guitar. I had been messing around with it to pass the time.

He grinned at me. "Good luck, darlin'."

As I went out into the living area, Kendra didn't even look up at me. "Hey, Kendra…" She kept her eyes fixed on the book that was open in her lap. "I'm really _really_ sorry for what I said earlier. I was a complete and total bitch, and I'm _so _sorry." She still didn't look at me, but I could tell she was listening at least. "Since I've been here, my emotions have been all over the place. I don't know if it's the hormones or what, but I know I have been acting completely nuts. You didn't deserve all the mean things I said to you. Again, I'm really _totally_ sorry." I stood there for a minute, waiting to see if she would respond at all. I honestly did feel bad about being so mean to her. She _was_ shallow, but I got the very distinct impression that it was largely because she just wasn't very bright, and just believed whatever Louie told her. Guess it was good that she married well, otherwise she would have been in the basement with Henry and the others.

Finally, Kendra said, "My friend Melinda had the same trouble with hormones as you. She was always yelling at me while she was pregnant, but now she's back to her normal self."

I was pretty sure that Melinda also used the excuse of pregnancy hormones to tell Kendra what she really thought of her, but I kept that to myself. "It's really crazy! I've never been this much of a wacko in my life. I went and talked to someone from the infirmary today, and I'm going to go back tomorrow for some counseling." I held my breath to see if that lie passed muster with Kendra.

She perked up. "Oh, that's a great idea! They have some really good people to talk to there. I've gone for counseling myself a few times." Kendra frowned at that but then resumed her usual cheer, although it was slightly muted now.

I sat down next to her on the couch. "I'm really hoping that it will help me keep my shit together." I paused, then asked, "Do you know when Louie will be back? I guess I should apologize to him, too, especially since I threw up on his floor."

Kendra's eyes widened. "You did _what?" _

I studied my fingernails. "I was so upset and with the morning sickness and all, I couldn't make it out of his office."

To my complete surprise, she giggled. "I'm sorry, I totally shouldn't laugh at that, but…" She couldn't finish her thought because she was laughing too hard. Finally, she managed to choke out, "I would have _loved_ to see the look on his face."

Her laughter was contagious, and I soon found myself cracking up along with her. It was then that Louie walked in. He glared at the both of us, demanding, "What the hell is so funny?"

Kendra straightened up immediately, but I saved her from having to come up with an excuse by apologizing. "Look, Louie, I am really so sorry for what happened today. I was a complete bitch, and I'm really sorry." It was a lot harder to come up with what sounded like a heart-felt apology because I actually wasn't sorry in the least. "Um, I was just telling Kendra that I think it might be the hormones."

Louie looked unconvinced. "I don't think you can lay all the blame there. You never did like me, even when we were kids."

_Always wanting to play the victim_. I could feel my blood pressure start to rise, but I managed to keep a lid on it. "I'm sorry," I said again. "I'm actually going to be going down to the infirmary for some counseling." Again, I waited to see what his reaction to that would be – did he believe it?

Louie just raised an eyebrow, but then Kendra suggested, "Maybe you guys could _both_ do some counseling. You could work on the bad stuff from the past so you can have a better relationship now!"

_Oh my God, please say no, Louie_. I could imagine nothing more agonizing than rehashing the past with him.

He fixed Kendra with a withering look. "_I'm_ not the one with the emotional problems."

I watched in complete shock as Kendra _rolled her eyes_ at him. That was a crazy statement of rebellion, coming from her. "Get over yourself, Louis," she said, standing up. "I'm going to order our dinner, and we are all going to sit here and eat together and have some _civilized _conversation."

_Oh man, going to be a __fun__ evening._ I went back to our room to tell Daryl the "great" news.

Eating dinner with Daryl, Louie and Kendra could only be described as completely awkward. Kendra's directive that we have "civilized" conversation eliminated all topics of discussion for Louie and me. Daryl wasn't exactly skilled at small talk either, so Kendra tried her hardest to find neutral things to chat about. First, she asked how Daryl and I had met, and we filled her in on our story, which she thought was just the sweetest thing. I asked her how she and Louie met.

"I spotted him in the cafeteria one day and was totally smitten. He had just been promoted to the middle management sector and looked _so cute_ in his new uniform! I have to admit that I totally went after him! I just _knew_ he was the one for me!" Kendra beamed at Louie, who was focused on his dinner. "Whenever I saw him, I made sure to find a reason to talk to him. I guess I was pretty persistent, and he finally gave in." This time, I noticed Louie rolling his eyes slightly. I fought the urge to mash his foot.

"So what did you do before you guys got married?" I asked.

A slight blush crept across Kendra's face. "Oh, I was working in the kitchen."

So I hadn't been too far off in my guess that she'd moved up a couple of rungs by marrying Louie. Deciding it wouldn't be helpful to point it out, I just smiled and said, "That's nice."

"Now, I know that Stella was in graduate school before the virus hit. What were you doing before all the craziness started, Daryl?" Kendra asked.

"Worked in construction," Daryl replied. "Mostly buildin' houses outside of Atlanta." This brought that fucking smirk back to Louie's face that made me want to slap him _so bad_. I gritted my teeth instead.

"And in your spare time? I'm guessing something very…manly, like getting drunk and setting off fireworks?" Louie wasn't even bothering to hide his condescending attitude. My jaw was starting to ache now, and I thought my teeth might crack from all the pressure I was exerting on them.

To my surprise, Daryl played right along. He put his hands behind his head and sighed, "Yeah, those were the days. Livin' in the trailer park with my brother, spendin' the weekends gettin' drunk and gettin' into fights." He smiled, a faraway look in his eyes. Kendra's mouth was hanging open slightly, Louie had a self-satisfied grin on his face, and I was just trying to puzzle out what the hell Daryl was up to. He wasn't done yet. "Best days were when we'd go huntin' and bring back a buncha squirrels, possums, 'coons, whatever we could find. You ain't never had nothin' so good as a freshly kilt squirrel, rolled in flour an' deep fried." At this point, I was having a hard time keeping from laughing, but Daryl was completely deadpan. "Y'all ever had squirrel?"

Louie raised an eyebrow. "No, I can't say that I have."

Kendra looked kind of green, but managed to choke out, "No, but I'm sure it's delicious!"

And with that little bit of theater, dinner was over. Daryl and I retired to our room, and I immediately apologized for Louie's douchey behavior. Daryl just shrugged. "No big deal. Don't really care what that guy thinks of me. Think I gave 'em what they were lookin' for?"

I grinned at him. "Yeah, they're going to remember that story for a very long time, I'm sure."

"I'm thinkin' that's why I'm flyin' under the radar. They all think I'm too dumb to worry 'bout. If that's the case, I'm happy to play th' part." He sat down, taking his boots off, and then lay back on the bed.

I leaned over and kissed him. "They'll never guess what a evil genius you are." I lay down alongside him, and we quickly progressed to making out. Daryl ran his hands lightly over my back, and as much as I wanted the kissing to continue, I was soon sound asleep.

0000000

The next morning, I was sitting with Kendra, paging through ancient, yellowed bridal magazines that she had saved for some reason. As had become his routine, Daryl was back down in the basement, trying to get the truck back to working order. There was a knock at the door, and I was extremely relieved that it was a summons from the infirmary.

"I guess they are ready to see me for counseling," I reminded Kendra, slipping on my shoes.

She smiled at me. "I hope it goes well! I'm sure it will help a lot."

I had to work hard not to run down to the infirmary. When I entered, I could hear a voice that I _knew_ was Henry's, but he was clearly not too happy to have been called up. "I did not do anything. Why are you making me sit here again? This is not fair. I would like to go back to work." He didn't seem tremendously agitated, but sounded instead like he was just informing them of things that maybe they weren't aware of. The odd cadence and tone of his speech had not changed in all these years, and I started to feel tears come, realizing just how much I'd missed him. I quickly pulled myself together. People crying made Henry exceedingly uncomfortable and I didn't want to start off badly, especially since if what Louie said was true, he wasn't going to be happy to see me at all.

Spotting me, Gabriela said quietly, "I explained to him he wasn't in trouble at all, so hopefully that helps him settle down a little. I wish there was a better place for you guys to talk, but I think this is the best option for now." Hearing someone else enter the infirmary, she quickly opened the door to the quiet room and pushed me inside.

I had been hoping for a more gradual introduction, but here I was, suddenly face to face with my dear, dear brother who I had assumed I would never see again. He looked so grown-up now, and I was relieved to see he also appeared to be healthy. He glanced at me, his face expressionless. "H-hi, Henry. It's-It's me, Stella. Remember?" I was terrified that he was going to go into one of his tantrums like he did when he was a kid, screaming in an eerie high-pitched tone and flapping his hands frantically.

Henry just sat there quietly in the corner of the room. "Louie said you were here. How come it took you so long to get here?"

I didn't want to make Louie out to be the villain, so I just said, "Louie was worried you'd be upset."

"No, I mean, it's been eight years since the zombies came. I've been waiting for you for a long time," Henry said with an annoyed sigh. "Dad died, you know."

I said sadly, "I know. I'm sorry I didn't get to see him." Then I smiled at him. "But you don't know how _happy_ I am that I found you." All I wanted to do was to grab him up in the biggest, longest hug possible, but I restrained myself. Any kind of physical contact was going to have to be initiated by Henry.

"Yeah, I'm glad you finally got here. What took you so long?" he asked again.

I felt so guilty. I had just written him off, and here he was all these years, wondering why his sister hadn't come looking for him yet. "I'm so sorry, Henry. I didn't know where you were. I was too scared to come looking for you by myself."

"Louie said you have a new boyfriend." Henry was picking at his cuticles, a habit that was so familiar to me from his childhood.

"His name is Daryl. He's a great guy. He's very kind and _very_ brave. He's the one who convinced me that we should come to find you." I was dreading what I knew was coming next.

"Louie said that Ty died."

"Yes, he died."

"How?"

I couldn't bear to tell him the whole story about Ty being attacked by walkers as we fled the farm, and my having to kill him before he turned. I just said, "He was killed by the zombies."

Mercifully, Henry didn't ask for any more details. "Ty was cool. I liked Ty." He still didn't make eye contact with me and was now methodically pulling out a loose string from the cushion that he was sitting on.

"I liked Ty a lot, too. I still miss him."

"Then why do you have a new boyfriend?"

It was so hard to explain certain things to Henry. Everything was black and white to him. Trying to get him to understand the complex array of human emotions was often completely impossible, so I just had to make explanations as concrete as possible. I thought for a minute before I responded. "I was really lonely before I met Daryl. He's pretty different from Ty, but he cares about me a lot, and I care about him. It makes me feel good to have someone to be with." It was an extremely ineloquent explanation, but it was the best I could do.

Henry considered what I said. "I like to be alone."

"Yeah, I know. But I don't." I stopped for a minute to try to get control before my emotions got away from me. "You know I'm never going to be away from you again, right?"

"Yeah." He finally looked up and met my stare for just a second. It was almost as good as a hug. "I'm glad you found me, Stella. I have been waiting eight years."

That did it. Tears started rolling down my cheeks, as I told him, "I'm so glad I found you, Henry. I missed you an awful lot."

"Oh jeez, Stella. Why are you crying?" Henry started to fidget nervously.

I took a huge deep breath and quickly wiped my eyes with my sleeve. "Sorry, sorry, I'll stop," I said, pulling myself together again.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, and then Henry spoke again. "Stella?"

"Yeah?"

"I probably won't like him as much as I liked Ty. I'm just saying." He was back to picking at his cuticles.

"That's OK. But you'll give him a chance, right? For me?" I asked.

"Yeah."

Gabriela knocked quietly on the door and then poked her head in. "Henry needs to go back to work. Sorry."

Henry stood up and I waited, hoping he would offer a hug, but he didn't. He did, however, ask Gabriela if he could come talk to me again. My heart leaped for joy as Gabriela explained that she would try again tomorrow. "Henry," I reminded him. "You know you can't tell anyone that you talked to me, right?"

He shrugged. "I don't talk to anyone here anyway." Then he left.

Gabriela sat in the room with me while I cried a little bit more. When I was able to stop, she let me know that she'd send a message to me again when she was able to get Henry here. "Thank you so much," I told her. "You have _no idea_ how much this means to me. Anything you need me to do for you, just ask. I'm serious."

Gabriela just nodded, then poked her head out the door to make sure the coast was clear. "See you tomorrow," she told me, sending me back upstairs.

I trudged back to the apartment, knowing it was going to feel like an eternity until I could see Henry again. Kendra was still in the apartment, knitting this time. She seemed a little embarrassed that I caught her at it when I came in. "Sorry, this is just a silly hobby of mine," she told me, dropping whatever she had been working on into a basket. "I should probably leave it to the folks downstairs."

"I don't think it's silly. It's good to have something to pass the time." Speaking of passing time, I went into my room and came back out with my guitar. I sat down in a chair and started to tune it up.

"So do you feel better?" Kendra asked me.

I smiled broadly. "Absolutely." Once my guitar was ready, I started to pick out the notes to an old song that was Henry's favorite. Seeing Kendra staring at me, I stopped. "Oh, sorry! If this is bothering you, I can go into my room."

"Oh, no! I would love to hear you play. It's been _ages_ since I've heard any music," she said wistfully.

"Really? No one here plays or sings or _anything?_" I couldn't believe that there was no one among the thousand-plus residents here that wasn't musically inclined.

"Well, I'm not sure what they do downstairs, but people up here think it's 'low-class.'" She paused, frowning. "I don't even remember the reason why anymore."

I played through some cover songs I remembered, along with a bunch of the songs that Marie and I and our band used to play back at home, and even before that, when we played together back in college. Kendra knitted, smiling contentedly. "It is so nice to hear music again," she sighed.

0000000

After dinner that evening, Daryl suggested that he and I go for a walk. I actually kind of felt bad now, leaving Kendra by herself as Louie was working late _again_, but she just shooed us out. It was a gorgeous evening to be outside. The late September air was crisp and clear, and the sky was that dark, dark blue you only see in the fall. It was apparent pretty quickly that Daryl had other plans besides an evening stroll. He led me down to the generator room, where our truck sat, hood propped open and pieces of the engine scattered about the floor.

I groaned, looking at it. "There's no fixing that, is there?"

"I'm tryin', but it's not real easy to build a head gasket from scratch." Seeing my look of worry, he reassured me, "No worries, darlin'. I'm workin' on a Plan B."

The door opened, and in came Gabriela and a man I assumed was her husband. She came over and introduced the man to us as Tomas. She told us he was a chemist in the pharmacy. "Glad you guys were able to get away for the meeting," she said.

"What meeting?" I asked them.

"To find out how we can help," Daryl said simply.

I smiled and shook my head. He had been telling me this whole trip to stay focused and not try to solve everyone's problems, and here he was, jumping in with both feet. Within the next fifteen minutes, five more people I didn't recognize showed up. Gabriela explained to me that they couldn't meet in too big of groups, or they'd risk drawing attention to themselves.

I didn't ask questions, instead just listening quietly as they discussed among themselves what they had accomplished already and what still needed to be done to prepare for the "coup." Tomas mentioned that his department had succeeded in replacing the sedatives that were given to those who were "uncooperative" with sugar pills. Someone from the ag department told how they had 100% cooperation from the farm staff as well as all the loggers. A representative from the basement workers explained that he and his team had spread their message to nearly the entire body of workers and that they had extremely high numbers of supporters. Then to my complete and total surprise, Daryl reported that the maintenance staff had found a way to sabotage the generators that would go undetected until the right moment.

I gave him a look of disbelief. "So _that's_ what you've been up to all this time down here?"

He just grinned and shrugged. The meeting dismissed, and we headed back upstairs. My head was swimming with all of the information I'd just learned. I had a zillion questions for Daryl, but I knew that they would have to wait until we got back to our room, where no one would overhear us.

Once we were safely in bed, pillows and blankets piled up to muffle our voices, Daryl whispered to me that the workers were going to commandeer the weapons from the guard wall and then stage a strike. The idea was that they would force the management to step down and install a new, elected government and fairer system of running Pegasus.

"That sounds great, but what if management won't go quietly?" I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid of what might happen to Louie.

"Guess that's what the weapons are for," Daryl replied with a sigh. I knew for a fact that the last thing he wanted to be involved with was another war.

"When is it going to happen?" I was now thinking that maybe we could find a way to get out of here before then.

"Not gonna set a date. They don't wanna be forced to take action if things ain't just right. They're workin' on a way to let everyone know when it's time." Daryl rubbed his eyes. "I understand why they're doin' it, but I just think there's way too many ways it can go wrong."

Later, after Daryl fell asleep, I lay awake for hours, running through in my mind all the ways this revolution could go horribly awry, trapping Henry, Daryl and me in it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Making some headway with Henry, Stella gets an unwanted opportunity to entertain and Daryl drops some knowledge**

Daryl left early the next morning for a new assignment. Apparently, he had earned enough trust here that he was now being scheduled for shifts on the guard wall. It was probably to our advantage that he was "in" there, but it left me at loose ends. I couldn't leave because I was waiting for Gabriela to call me down to the infirmary. Unfortunately, there was no telling when that would be because she had to wait until she could get both me and Henry in there without drawing too much attention to what was going on. So until then, I was stuck with Kendra.

I was trying very hard to not seem too antsy, but it was really hard to focus on any one thing. I tried to read, but that didn't work. Then I tried to have Kendra teach me how to knit, but I couldn't retain anything she was trying to show me. Finally, I grabbed my guitar and started noodling around on it. Kendra sat quietly, listening for a little bit and then left, telling me she would be right back. When she returned a few minutes later, she had several other women in tow.

I stopped playing and looked up at her questioningly. "Oh, don't mind us," she said. "Just keep playing." I did, awkwardly at first. It was always uncomfortable for me to have a new audience, but these women all had the same reaction that Kendra did when I played yesterday. It was like they had just discovered something that they thought they had lost long ago.

After I'd played a few songs, I paused to make some adjustments to my guitar. Kendra's famous friend Melinda gushed, "Oh wow, that was so amazing! It just makes me feel so…happy!"

Trish jumped in. "Yeah, I was in kind of a bad mood when I got here, but I feel so much better now!"

"Do you remember 'Hey, Soul Sister?'" Bonnie asked. "That was one of my _favorites._"

I shook my head, smiling. "Sorry, I don't know that one." As much as I disliked all these women in principle, I had to admit it was really cool to see their reactions. I played for a little bit longer, but their attention began to wander, and they started chatting amongst themselves. Then Trish asked me about where I was in planning our wedding. "Um, what?"

"You mean you haven't set a date or _anything_ yet?" Melinda was incredulous.

"Well, no. We just got engaged a couple of days ago." _And I have a lot more important things on my mind right now._

"Oh my God, Louis and I had a date picked out an hour after he proposed!" Kendra giggled. "You let us help you plan it out. We're all _experts_ in the _best_, most fashionable ideas."

The rest of the ladies started prattling on about what you absolutely _had _to do to have a great wedding, and just like that, all my goodwill towards them evaporated. My mind quickly wandered to other things, like whether or not I was going to get to see Henry today, and then to my worry that we might end up in the middle of a full-blown revolution if we couldn't get out of here soon. As much as I wanted to help Gabriela and the others, I didn't want to risk the lives of Daryl, Henry or my unborn baby.

Mercifully, there was soon a knock at the door, and I was able to excuse myself for my "counseling" session. Once I reached the infirmary, I knew the drill, so I immediately slipped into the quiet room. A minute later, Henry was there, and once again I had to hold myself back so I wouldn't swallow him up in a hug. Happily, he gave me a brief smile as he sat down in his corner.

We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, while I thought about what to ask him first. I had a million questions, but I didn't want to overwhelm him.

"So what is your job here?" I finally asked.

"They bring in machines and stuff like that, and I take them apart into pieces and sort them into piles. Then someone else comes to get them." He found the piece of string he was working on yesterday and picked up where he left off. A couple more meetings here, and he was going to have that cushion completely unraveled.

What he was doing sounded exactly like the sort of thing the schools had been steering him towards - the things my dad had fought so strongly against - and it made me mad. I tried to keep my voice neutral when I asked, "Do you like it?"

Henry rolled his eyes. "It would be better if I was putting things together. It's boring. It's not even close to being as hard as building a Death Star out of Legos, and I did that a million times."

That made me laugh, despite my anger. "How do you like it here?" I asked him.

"It's OK. It's too dark in the warehouse so it's hard to see what I'm doing, but they won't turn on any more lights because they say it's wasting energy. I get tired of working all the time. And it's boring." Now he had the cushion's fabric pulled apart and was picking at the stuffing inside it. "I have to share a room with someone, and he makes too much noise. He is always talking to me, even when I tell him I don't want to. I really don't like that."

I knew I had to approach my next question delicately. When he was a kid, even the suggestion of a change to his routine could send him into a meltdown. I began carefully, "I love my new home. It's so awesome. I miss it every day I'm gone." I waited to see if Henry was interested in hearing more. He didn't say anything, but I could tell from his posture that he was listening. I told him about the self-storage facility. I emphasized that there were only about thirty people there, and that people could have their own space if they want one. I explained to him how everyone had a job, but if they didn't like it, they could switch to something they liked better. I told him how everyone got paid for their work, and you could use your money to buy things that you wanted, like books, and that you had time every day to just sit and read, if that's what you wanted to do. "It's very peaceful there, and nobody tries to push you around." I stopped talking to give Henry time to process what I told him.

"Do people have cats?" he asked.

Actually people were discouraged from having pets because it was an added burden on our food supply, but I figured a small lie wouldn't hurt here. "Yeah, some do. Why?"

"I'd really like to have a cat," Henry replied.

"Then I'm sure you could have one there." I paused, still treading lightly. "Do you think you might want to leave with me and Daryl when we go?" I held my breath, waiting for his answer.

Henry just shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. There are a lot of zombies out there, though. I really don't like the zombies."

"Yeah, they are pretty terrifying," I admitted. "But Daryl is _amazing_ at killing them. Do you remember that movie _Zombieland_?" Henry nodded. "Daryl's kinda like Tallahassee in that movie." Then I grinned. "You know, I might even be just a _little _bit like Wichita."

He laughed, which ranked up there as one of my favorite sounds ever. "Maybe I'd leave with you guys," he said finally.

I decided it was wise not to push him for a firmer answer, as much as I was desperate to hear a definitive yes. Instead, I asked, "You seem so much calmer now. Do big changes not bother you anymore?"

Another shrug. "It made a lot of trouble for Dad and Louie when I would have a fit. People didn't want to let us stay and would send us back out with the zombies. I learned how to stop it. It was easier when I got older."

Henry was seriously one of the most amazing kids I'd ever met. "Wow, Henry, you've really grown up."

He rolled his eyes. "Jeez, Stella, I'm an adult now. I'm eighteen."

Gabriela tapped on the door to signal that it was time to go, and it was just in time because I was on the verge of tears _again_. I stayed seated, while Henry started towards the door. Then he came back and laid his hand on the top of my head, just for a second. He told me he would see me later and left, and I was a hopeless, bawling mess for the zillionth time since I'd been here.

While I pulled myself together _again_, Gabriela sat with me and broke the news that she wasn't sure if she could keep getting Henry and I together like this. There were a few people asking some pointed questions of her that she wasn't going to be able to keep deflecting. She did promise that she would think of some other way that we could talk, so I shouldn't worry. Then she asked me, "Are you still up for a mission?"

I nodded my head emphatically, "Absolutely. What can I do?"

"We need to get access to the weapons locker, but there is a combination lock on it. The code changes periodically, and we found out that your brother is the one who chose it this time. We need a list of possible codes so that we can try as many as we can when the opportunity presents itself," Gabriela explained. "It's a long shot to think he might have it written somewhere, but maybe look around the apartment if you have a chance. And you know him best, so you might be able to think of some number sequences that we wouldn't know. You know, significant dates, things like that."

"I'll try my best," I promised. "But after all these years, I feel like I know him even less than when we were kids. He's become someone I don't understand at all."

We heard someone passing by, so Gabriela and I stood up, and she said loudly, "Well, Stella, I hope that our talk was helpful to you."

"It most certainly was. I feel so much better now!" I announced.

I was totally lost in thought when I arrived back at our room. Kendra ambushed me when I came through the door. "Oh my God, I had a _great_ idea!" she crowed.

I blinked a couple of times to try to get my head back to the current moment. Forcing a smile, I asked, "About what?"

"We are going to have a _concert_ tomorrow! And you will play for all of Pegasus!" She clapped her hands excitedly and waited for an equally enthusiastic reaction from me. "You know, something to bring everyone together and refocus them on working for the good of the organization."

The reaction I had to this idea of hers was terror. Like I said before, I wasn't too keen on playing for strangers, much less twelve hundred of them. "Um, well, I don't know…."

"Oh, you _have _to do it! Think of how good you made me and the girls feel this morning. Imagine how _inspired_ the masses will be when they hear you!" A look of sheer joy came over Kendra's face. "And you can write a theme song for Pegasus! You know, like an anthem or something?"

_Oh, this was just getting better and better._ "Please tell me you're kidding." There was _no way_ I was doing this.

Kendra was swept away in the brilliance of her plan and was not paying the least bit of attention to my reluctance. "This is going to be so awesome! I told Louis, and he already ran it past Mr. diLeonardo, and they _loved_ the idea. Said it sounded like a real morale-booster." She grabbed a notebook and a pencil. "Wow, there are so many details to take care of before tomorrow!"

"_Tomorrow?!_" I frantically tried to think if there was any way possible Daryl and I could convince Henry to leave with us tonight so I could avoid what was sure to be a complete fiasco.

"Why wait? Besides, you have _all day_ today to write a new song," she reminded me, like that was eons of time.

I started shaking my head, "Oh, no, no, no. There's just no way-" But Kendra was clearly not listening. She was already absorbed in her plans, heading out the door, mumbling something about finding some ladies to help her with her pep rally. I realized that whether I liked it or not, I was having my debut solo performance in less than twenty-four hours.

0000000

I spent most of the rest of the day in my room, frantically trying to come up with something, _anything_ that could pass for an "anthem." Under the best of circumstances, song-writing didn't come easily to me, and with the added pressure of a rapidly approaching deadline, along with the promise of a thousand people watching, my mind was an absolute blank. Plus, I had decided I didn't want to just write something that was "rah-rah Pegasus." I needed to write a song that _sounded_ supportive of the party line but _actually_ contained a hidden message. So yeah, this was an exercise in futility.

Emerging from my room bleary-eyed to see if there was anything to eat, I found Louie standing in front of the window, looking out on the fields. He glanced over at me when I came in. "You look like hell."

"Thanks." _Asshole._ "Your wife came up with the _brilliant_ idea to get me up on stage tomorrow for a fucking pep rally. Apparently, she doesn't understand that writing a song is not as easy as planning an assembly for twelve hundred people," I complained. I was picking over the afternoon snack tray that was sent up at three every day, but nothing looked appetizing. "Where the hell is Daryl?" I muttered, glancing at the clock.

"He is working the _guard wall_," Louie told me. It was apparent from his tone that to him, working the guard wall was on par with taking out the trash. "He seems like he's found his niche there."

I took a deep breath so that I could refrain from punching him in his smug face. "Oh, I'm not surprised," I said breezily. "He's an _incredible _shot. I've seen him take down four walkers in one move. I have to say, there's not much a woman likes better than a man who's not afraid to get his hands dirty." I gave him a pointed stare and was happy to see that Louie appeared rather miffed by my unsubtle insinuation that he might be something less than a man.

Louie glared at me. Kendra came bustling in, with news of another dinner party that night. I begged off, seeing as I had to get back to my insurmountable task for tomorrow. "How's the song coming?" she asked hopefully.

"Oh, great. Juuust great." My sarcasm was completely lost on her. Thankfully, they left a short time later, and I was very relieved to be left with quiet and privacy to resume my completely impossible mission. I knew I needed to also start thinking about what Gabriela had asked me to do, but I knew there was no way I could think about anything else right now.

Daryl came in later, and one look at my face told him that something was seriously wrong. "What's up? Are you OK? Is somethin' wrong with th' baby?" he demanded.

"They are having a _concert_ tomorrow for the _whole_ compound, and guess who gets the top billing?" I moaned.

"Wait, they're doin' what?" He shot me a look of complete disbelief.

"You heard me. They're putting on a fucking pep rally for the goddamn company. Kendra and her buddies heard me play today, and they thought it would be 'just the thing' to 'inspire the masses.'" I rubbed my eyes in frustration and sighed violently.

"You're gonna give yourself a hand cramp with all those air quotes." Daryl tried to stifle a laugh. "Sorry, you got roped into it, darlin'."

I told him that not only did I have to perform, but I had to have an original song, too. I explained that I was trying to write something that, on the surface, would sound like what the executives wanted while a secret subversive message was hidden underneath.

That seemed to worry Daryl slightly. "Maybe you should leave stirrin' shit up to the others. Don't want somethin' to happen to ya before we can get the hell outta here."

I sighed again. "I don't think you have anything to worry about, love. I've got absolutely no ideas anyway. This is going to be awful. How the hell am I going to get up there in front of all those people?"

Daryl just shook his head at that and told me that I'd be fine. "You're a natural up on stage. Just imagine your playin' for everyone from back home." I appreciated the sentiment, but I didn't believe for a second that would work. I picked up my guitar again, but he held out his palm for me to hand it over. Directing me to sit on the floor in front of him, he straddled me with his legs and began to dig into the muscles of my shoulders, which were as tightly wound right about then as my guitar strings. He worked on me quietly for a few minutes, listening to my alternating oohs and groans. "Gabriela an' her crew are gettin' a regular Russian revolution goin' here," he commented.

"What do you mean?" I hadn't figured Daryl to be a history buff. I tried to recall my European history class, but college was a whole lifetime ago now. Besides, I was always a science geek, so I admittedly didn't pay a whole lot of attention to any other subject.

"Well, Marx's original idea was that the workers, kinda like the ones in the basement here, would eventually get fed up and overthrow th' ruling class, who would be the guys on this floor. He thought if the common folks were leadin' the revolt, society would re-form around their int'rests. But during the Russian revolution, the middle class folks thought they'd try an' speed things up a lil bit, just to get the ball rollin', I guess." Daryl found an especially knotted muscle, and worked on it with both hands. It was agonizing and incredibly delightful at the same time. "Which is exactly what's happenin' here."

I was speechless at the knowledge he'd just dropped, and I turned around to stare at him. "How did I not know you were a master of history?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "Never came up."

"Wanna lay some of that Russian revolution shit on my brother? Show him who's _actually_ the ignorant one around here," I said with a grin. Thinking back a minute about what he'd told me, I asked, "So what's the problem with Gabriela's group getting the ball rolling here, like you said?"

Daryl fixed me with a sober look. "'Member how well the Russian revolution turned out?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Kendra finally understands the exquisite charms of Daryl Dixon and Stella unwittingly lands herself in hot water**

When Daryl and I woke up the next morning, we found ourselves alone in the apartment. I was exhausted because I hadn't slept much at all last night. I had managed to write the most horrendously lame song for Pegasus, and I sincerely hoped that there would be a natural disaster of some sort so I could avoid playing it. I had practiced a couple of other songs I already knew, which I figured I'd play to warm-up the crowd. I had also decided I'd play the song that Henry had always loved so much, in the hopes that might sway him into coming with us. It was a long shot, though. I doubted a grand, abstract gesture such as that would even register with him, but I figured it was the only way to make this exercise in torture potentially worthwhile.

Kendra had left me a message that she would meet me back here at noon to help me get ready for the big show. Setting down the note, I looked miserably at Daryl. "Maybe I could fake some morning sickness?"

"Aw, darlin' you'll be fine," Daryl responded encouragingly. He was digging into the breakfast that had been brought up, but I had no appetite. "And you said yourself it might be a way to convince Henry he should come with us."

"Yeah, but I doubt it will make the slightest difference. Subtlety is almost always lost on him." I rested my forehead on the table. "Can we just leave now? We can kidnap Henry and leave."

Daryl raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know you were such a drama queen. And 'sides, the truck still ain't runnin'."

"I could just refuse to go on. They can't make me do it, right?" I was grasping at straws now. "This is seriously the stupidest thing I've ever been involved in."

"Yeah, it's pretty stupid, a'right, but if you don't go on, you'd be makin' bigger waves for us. Prob'ly better just to go along with it. Ain't gonna kill ya, y'know." He frowned. "And as far as _makin'_ you do it, I wouldn't put nothin' past these jackholes."

He was right. There was no use fighting it. I grouchily picked at a piece of toast when I suddenly remembered Gabriela's request. I filled Daryl in on the details, and he agreed to help me case the apartment again. "I've already been through it once, and I didn't find anything, but I didn't know what I was looking for then," I told him.

Daryl was skeptical. "Do ya really think he'd just have it written down somewhere?"

"Probably not," I admitted. "But maybe we'll find something to jog my memory because I doubt it's something easy, like his birthday or something." We went over the apartment with a fine-toothed comb. We searched every inch of each of the rooms, which didn't take us very long at all. At this point, my best hope for a clue of some kind was the envelope in the bottom drawer of Louie's dresser. Daryl and I sat on the floor, and I spread the pile of photos between us.

"Jesus Christ," Daryl commented. "Y'know what a long shot this is? Who's t'say that it's even a date at all?"

"Yeah, I know. It's a six-digit code, so I guess it's the best idea they have now." Staring at the pile of pictures, I said, "I never would have thought looking at pictures would be such a rare treat. For a while there, you couldn't get away from them; people would take pictures of their fucking _dinner_ to post on Facebook, for God's sake. Now there's only our memories_._" I was studying the family portrait again, and Daryl had a snapshot of my brothers and I where I was in about the eighth grade.

He laughed. "Man, look at that _hair_. An' the braces. You were quite a stunner in middle school."

"Oh shut up," I told him good-naturedly. "Lucky for you I don't have any of _your _childhood pictures around. I'm sure _those _would be the punchline for a joke." I put the photos down for a minute and picked up a scrap of paper and a pencil and started writing. "I'm going to go ahead and put down birthdays, just in case. Graduation dates. There's so much I don't know, though. What day did Dad die? When did they leave their house after the walkers came?" I threw my pencil down in frustration. "This is never going to fucking work."

Daryl wasn't listening. He was riveted on the worn photo of Louie and Mom. He let out a low whistle. "Is this your mama?" I nodded. "You're a dead ringer for her."

I grimaced. That wasn't really a compliment. I held out my hand, and he handed the picture to me. Staring at it for a second, I had a brainstorm. I scrawled a date on my list and underlined it three times. "I may be way off base here, but if it actually is a date, I _bet_ it's the date Mom left us. I think that day changed Louie's life even more than the walkers did."

"Guess it's the-" Daryl was cut off by the noise of Kendra yapping to someone in the hallway. "Thank God she announces her fuckin' arrival," he muttered as we threw the photos back in the envelope. I hung onto one of Dad, stuffing it into my pocket, and handed the scrap of paper with the possible codes on it to Daryl. He was going to get it back to Gabriela.

As I slid the drawer shut, we heard the key in the lock. Daryl grabbed me and pushed me up against the wall right outside Louie's bedroom door. "Follow my lead," he muttered, kissing me.

Seconds later, when Kendra came though the door, she saw us wrapped around each other, making out like Daryl was shipping out in the morning. He had one hand on my cheek and one on my thigh, which was pressed up against his hip. I had my hands threaded into his hair. I had to admit, it was the most fun diversionary tactic I'd ever been a part of.

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry! I guess I'm, um, early. Oh, I'm so sorry! Just let me-" Kendra was so flustered, she dropped her keys and then when she bent down to pick them up, she dropped her notebook, too.

While Daryl went over to help her, I faked some embarrassment. It wasn't too hard as I could tell my face was already flushed anyway. "Oh shit, Kendra! Sorry about that! I didn't think you'd be back for another hour yet." I made a show of straightening my t-shirt and ran my hand through my hair.

Kendra, however, seemed to have lost track of her embarrassment and was now staring openly at Daryl, her mouth slightly agape. "What? Oh yeah. I guess I just got done a little…." She let her words trail off as she watched Daryl putting on his boots, the muscles in his arms flexing just a tad bit more than was actually necessary. I smothered the grin that was forming with a fake yawn.

"A'right, darlin'," he said to me. "Goin' down to work on the truck for a bit. See ya at your big debut." He kissed me again and then sauntered out the door.

Kendra stared at the closed door for a good couple of minutes. Finally, I asked, "So what do I need to do to get ready?"

"What?" Kendra's mind seemed to have completely rebooted. "Is it hot in here?" she asked, absently wandering over to open a window.

This was too much. A laugh escaped my lips, but Kendra was too dazed to notice. "About this concert, or pep rally, or whatever?" I tried again.

"Oh yeah, that." But instead of talking about the concert, she started talking about Daryl. "So he's very…powerful, isn't he?"

"Powerful?"

"You know, take charge. _Passionate_." Kendra was again staring at the door, imagining Daryl's retreating form, I'm sure.

"Well…yeah." I wasn't sure I was interested in discussing _passion_ with my brother's wife. I had a feeling that it was something her life was definitely missing.

"I bet he's hella good in bed," Kendra muttered, more to herself than to me.

"Are you _drunk_?" I was half-ready to leave to give her some alone time her imaginary Daryl.

That jolted her back to reality. "Oh wow! Where did my head go there?" she tittered nervously. I just stared at her in disbelief. "So yeah, anyway, about the concert. Did you come up with a song for us?"

I was still kind of stunned by the detour Kendra had taken there for a minute, but I managed to lie, "Oh yeah, it's great." I was hoping like hell that I wouldn't have to actually sing it, but I had _something_.

"Ok great! Here's your outfit." She handed me a dress that looked like it might have come off of Dolly Parton's reject pile.

"Are you kidding me? This looks like someone's Halloween costume."

Kendra studied it for a minute, "I think it might have been. But we want you in something where the people feel they can _relate_ to you," she explained, shoving the dress at me.

_Maybe she really is drunk. Constantly drunk, 24/7. That would explain a lot. _I tried to protest again, but Kendra was in full-on party planner mode and was hearing none of it. Reluctantly, I got dressed, feeling a lot like that kid in the bunny suit on _A Christmas Story._ "You look _great!_" she said when she saw me. We went over the plan: she would introduce me, I would play a couple of songs and then the "anthem" I'd written, and that would be it. "Shouldn't take more than a half an hour, and then everyone can get back to work with a renewed enthusiasm for Pegasus."

_This will be the longest thirty minutes of my life_.

0000000

"Seriously Kendra, I think I'm going to puke. It's…morning sickness or something." I was minutes away from being shoved up onto a stage in front of a ridiculous amount of strangers, so I was throwing out any excuse I could think of, hoping something would stick.

"Don't be silly. It's the afternoon." I was fairly impressed at how easily Kendra was able to ignore or deflect my complaints. "Look, there's Daryl. He'll be able to boost your confidence." As Daryl approached, Kendra fell silent and when he said hello, she just giggled and blushed like she was thirteen.

Ignoring her, he told me, "Darlin', you're gonna do fine. Just keep yer eyes on me while you're playin'. Don't worry about anyone else."

Kendra sighed involuntarily and when we both stared at her, she took the hint and excused herself.

"You have officially driven that woman to distraction. Nice job, Gun Show," I told him, using Marie's nickname for him.

He just laughed. "But she wasn't payin' a lick of attention to what we might have been doin' in their bedroom now, was she?"

"Nope, the decoy make-out session was a success." I laughed in spite of my rampant nerves. The workers started filing out, and I quickly forgot anything except the fact that I was going to have to perform for all of them very shortly. Then I spotted Henry and impulsively grabbed him out of the line, not thinking that it might be against the rules. He did not look too happy with me for that, but I ignored him. "Hey, I won't keep you long. This is Daryl," I said quickly. "Daryl, this is my brother Henry."

Daryl extended his hand to shake Henry's but Henry clearly wasn't interested, so Daryl shoved both hands in his pockets awkwardly. "Hey, nice to meet ya. I've heard a lot 'bout you from your sister here."

Henry just looked at the ground. "Hi. Can I go back to my division?"

"Yeah, Henry, go ahead. I'll talk to you later." I glanced at Daryl, who was still standing there uncomfortably. "Don't worry about that. He just was annoyed with me for pulling him out of line like that."

Daryl shrugged, but didn't look like he believed me. "A'right, I'm gonna go find Gabriela. Love ya." He kissed me and then headed off.

"Love you, too," I called after him. Then Kendra told me they were ready, and now I really did feel like I might actually throw up. She went up on the makeshift stage of cinderblocks and some old pallets. She said something about why we were all gathered here and something about who I was, but I didn't really hear her. I was too consumed with terror to listen. Then she was motioning me up onto the stage. Swallowing hard, I picked up my guitar and walked onto the stage. The stage seemed to be the size of Asia, and it took me a year to get to the center of it. "Uh, hi everyone," I croaked, my throat bone-dry. Everyone in the audience was staring at me curiously but then I spotted Daryl, and he had that old, familiar half-grin. Instead of attempting any stage banter, I just started playing.

I had tried to pick songs that I thought the crowd would remember, and ones that I could play in my sleep. I started with "Ring of Fire," then played "It's the End of the World as We Know It." I had thought about playing "Revolution" by the Beatles, but I figured that might be too obvious, so I settled for "Back in the USSR," thinking about what Daryl had said last night. The people were receptive to the music from the start. It clearly reminded them of a place and time that was very different from where they were now, and I could even spot some people singing along. I also noticed little, intense conversations popping up throughout the crowd, Daryl and Gabriela among them. The executive goon squad seemed to notice, too, and were stalking around shushing people like a bunch of 'roided out ushers. I watched in panic as the goons approached Daryl and Gabriela, but the two of them picked up on it and finished their discussion before they could have been overheard.

I guess I had fallen silent while I was observing the scene in the crowd because I suddenly realized everyone was staring quietly at me again. I cleared my throat, joking, "OK, so now that I have built up the suspense...the next song is one you guys won't know, but it means a lot to me. I hope you like it." Taking a deep breath, I started into "Rise to Me."

_Big mountain, wide river  
__There's an ancient pull  
__These tree trunks, these stream beds  
__Leave our bellies full__  
_

As I got ready to go into the chorus, I suddenly realized that the lyrics from a song that had been written _years_ ago could easily be interpreted in this context as having a _way _different meaning that what was originally intended. Anxiously, I just played the melody without singing, frantically trying to figure out what to do next. Daryl had warned me to be careful not to cause trouble, but here I was singing this song that had somehow turned out to be _exactly_ what I had been wanting to say in the first place. _Fuck it._ I closed my eyes and picked up the lyrics again.

_Hey Henry, can you hear me?  
__Let me see those eyes  
__This distance between us  
__Can seem a mountain size  
__But boy, you are going to stand your ground  
__They rise to you, you blow them down  
__Let me see you stand your ground  
__If they rise to you, you blow them down  
__My darling, my sweetheart  
__I am in your sway  
__Til cold climes, come springtime  
__So let me hear you say  
__My love, you are going to stand your ground  
__They rise to you, and you blow them down-__  
_

And suddenly, I felt a large hand on my arm and opened my eyes to see a couple of muscle men standing in front of me. As they hustled me off the stage, I saw Daryl take off through the crowd. Kendra was back up front, telling everyone how there was a storm coming in, so everyone needed to get back inside, and thank you for your cooperation. Looking up at the sky, all I saw was deep fall blue. I heard a commotion, some kind of scuffle, people shouting, and then a scream. My mind flashed to Daryl and Henry out there, and I struggled to get a glimpse of what was going on. One guard clamped a hand on my shoulder, his giant fingers digging in painfully, and he shoved me inside.

0000000

"So just what were you up to out there, Ms. Marshall?" I was being questioned by none other than the head honcho himself, Mr. diLeonardo. As you would expect of the CEO of a decent-sized corporation, he was fat and bald and stuffed into a suit and tie.

"All I was doing was what Kendra _asked_ me to do. She asked me to play some songs to boost morale, and that's what I did." I was terrified, but I was trying desperately to cover that up with a lot of bravado. "What do you _think_ I was doing?"

"Well, it _appears_ that you were trying to _incite_ the workers instead of _inspiring _them." He shook his head and his extra chins shuddered along with it. "'Stand your ground' and all that rot."

"That song was written _years_ ago!" I appealed to Louie, who did not look too interested in helping me at all. "Louie, you remember. Ty wrote that song for Henry when he was back in elementaryschool because Henry was being _bullied_. I wasn't trying to encourage a revolution or anything." My choice of words brought some stares, and I realized I had said way too much. "Louie! Tell him!"

Mr. diLeonardo threw him a questioning look, and my dear brother must have _finally_ felt a twinge of familial love for me. "She's telling the truth," he said. "Her husband wrote that song at least ten years ago."

I was treated to a long, searching stare by Mr. diLeonardo as he decided if he should believe the story or not. "Regardless of whether it was you intention or not, you managed to turn what was supposed to be a pleasant diversion for our staff into a melee! Do you know that six people were injured as a result of you claim to be an innocent mistake?"

_Please don't let it be Daryl or Henry or Gabriela. _"Who was it? Are they OK?" I asked, fairly certain I wouldn't get an answer to that question.

I didn't. "Clearly, you don't understand how these people think," Mr. diLeonardo went on as if I hadn't said anything at all. "If we are going to run a successful industry here, we need to keep our workers on a tight leash. We need to make sure they aren't exposed to anything that might upset them, like your little song clearly did." He glared at me. "I'm _sure_ you don't want Pegasus to fail, especially as it is the _only_ place that would take your brothers in in their time of need." I nodded mutely. After another minute under his piercing gaze, he handed down his verdict. "You have twenty-four hours to vacate the premises."

"What?" There was _no way_ we could be ready in that amount of time.

"I don't trust you, Ms. Marshall. I think that the longer you stay here, the more trouble will follow. My inclination is to throw you out right now, but as you are family to Mr. Marshall who has proved his loyalty many times over, I will give you until five p.m. tomorrow to get your affairs in order and leave Pegasus," Mr. diLeonardo declared. "And please be aware that you will be confined to your quarters so that you do not 'accidentally' cause any more disturbances."

"But…but…" I sputtered. How the hell was I going to be able to convince Henry to come with me if I was trapped in Louie's apartment?

"What about the boyfriend?" Louie asked Mr. diLeonardo.

He gave Louie a puzzled look. "What boyfriend?"

"She came with a boyfriend. A Daryl Dixon. He's been working in the basement. Managed to worm his way onto the guard wall somehow," Louie explained.

Mr. diLeonardo glared at Louie. "And just how did _that_ happen? Mr. Marshall, you realize that the security here is one of _your _responsibilities."

Louie's expression morphed quickly from one of self-righteousness to embarrassment. "Well, sir, you see, he just doesn't seem, uh, smart enough to, you know, _plot_ against the organization is all."

Now Louie was subjected to Mr. diLeonardo's withering stare. "Your ability to underestimate people, Mr. Marshall, is a serious flaw. _I _will see to it that this...Daryl Dixon, did you say? is located and brought up to your quarters as well." He stood up, straightening his jacket. "Now if you will excuse me, I need to go clean up this mess that your sister has made."

As Mr. diLeonardo stepped outside, the beefed-up guards came in, each clamping a hand on my shoulder. They steered me out the door, but Louie wasn't finished with me yet. He was livid, and I knew I was going to bear the brunt of it. "I can't fucking _believe_ you," he hissed at me. "I let you stay here, I get them to _take you in, _and _this_ is the thanks I get? Stirring up shit! Trying to incite violence!"

"Fuck off, Louie." For that, I got a cuff on the back of the head from one of the guards, so I thought it was wiser to bite my tongue.

All the way back to the apartment, Louie railed on me for my irresponsible behavior, my lack of respect, and my lack of gratitude. The guards took up their posts outside Louie's door, but Louie followed me in, still ranting. "God, you are _just_ like Mom! In every possible way!"

Now that I was free of the he-men, I let him have it. "Jesus Christ, Louie, that's what it _always _comes down to, isn't it? You just want me to be the fucking reincarnation of Mom so that you have an excuse to hate me. But in reality, it's all you. You are an angry, selfish piece of shit who hides behind the past as a justification for being an asshole."

"You are the one who left us! Don't even try to deny it!" he yelled at me.

"For fuck's sake, Louie! I went to college! It's not the same thing as _abandoning your children_." Then something occurred to me. "But it's so much easier for you if you equate the two, right? It gives you an excuse to blame _me_ for _your_ miserable life."

From the look on his face, I had hit the nail on the head. He huffed, red-faced, and then changed the subject. "You went and saw Henry, even though I told you not to."

"He's my brother, too, and you have _no right_ to keep him from me," I spat at him.

"I'm trying to _protect_ him from you. You're just going to leave again," he accused me.

"I'm going to leave _with him_!"

"But what if he doesn't want to leave? I know _you_ never had any intention of staying here." He folded his arms triumphantly. "Don't even try to deny it. What if he decides he wants to stay? Then what?"

That brought me up short. For once in his life, he was absolutely right. I had never even _considered_ the fact that I would be leaving here without Henry. _Of course_ he was going to come with me. I suddenly changed my tune. "Louie, _please_ bring Henry up here. _Please_ let me talk to him! I know you don't want him here anyway. Just let me talk to him and convince him to come with us."

"Now why the _fuck_ do you think I'd want to do you any favors?" And he turned on his heel to storm out of the room. Before he left, he paused to tell me, "And speaking of favors, don't expect any help from us for your trip home. From what I gather, your truck is being stripped for parts, and I'm fairly sure your weapons have somehow just_ disappeared._" Throwing one last self-satisfied smirk my way, he left, slamming the door behind him.

I heard raised voices in the hallway, Daryl's and Louie's, and then the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting bone. Then it was Kendra squealing, "Stop it! Stop them, you morons!"

The door was thrown open and Kendra came running in, the guards shoving Daryl in behind her. From the angry red welt forming below his eye, I gathered that Daryl had been the recipient of Louie's fist, not the other way around. I ran to him, and he enveloped me in a hug. "Oh my God, Daryl, what _the fuck_ are we going to do now?"

**The song "Rise to Me" is by the Decemberists. Great band - you should check them out! :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Things fall apart**

With me still in his arms, Daryl asked, "Are you OK, Funny Girl? They didn't hurt ya, did they?"

"No, I'm fine. What about you? What the hell happened with you and Louie?" I stepped back so I could get a better look at the shiner forming below his eye.

"He started in on me the minute he saw me. The only thing I did was call him a fuckin' asshole. Then he hauled of an' slugged me." He gingerly touched the bruise. "Didn't know the lil shit had it in 'im."

"We're in some serious shit, love. They are throwing us out of here _tomorrow_." I chewed anxiously on a fingernail. "No truck, no crossbow, no _nothing_. What the fuck are we going to do?"

"Hey! Hey, you _assholes_!" Both of us turned in utter disbelief to see Kendra glaring at us, hands on her hips. "I can believe you _did _this to me! I thought you were my friend, Stella! And you turn around and try to ruin me and everything Pegasus has built!" She was fit to be tied, and even though her fury was directed at me, it was refreshing to see some real, honest emotion on her.

"Look, Kendra, I swear that song had nothing to do with anything going on here. It was written _years _ago. My...husband wrote it for Henry when Henry was having trouble with bullies at school." For some reason, it made me feel awkward to admit that in front of Daryl, and when I glanced over at him to see if he had a reaction, he was staring out the window. Kendra looked heartbroken at what she saw as my betrayal. I continued, "Henry always loved the song. I thought it might help him remember how much he loves _me_ to hear it again. Honestly, Kendra, it didn't occur to me how it could be interpreted until I was already up there singing it. I _am_ sorry for the trouble it caused you. That wasn't my intention." I didn't bother to mention that I wasn't at all sorry for the trouble it caused Louie and the other executives in this joint.

Kendra's expression softened, and she seemed slightly mollified by my apology. "Well, OK. I just don't know what to think anymore! Everyone's so nervous up here now. I hope they can get things sorted out so we can all get back to normal. And I hope Louie's not mad at me, since it was all my idea in the first place."

I smiled at her. "If Louie is mad at you, he is a _complete_ douchebag." Thinking about our predicament again, I started to pace. "But seriously, what the hell are we going to do? They're going to throw us out in less than twenty-four hours now with nothing but the clothes on our backs!"

Daryl brought his focus back to me, saying, "OK, let's think this though. What do we need to do 'fore then?"

"I _have_ to see Henry. I have got to get him to agree to come with us." It would absolutely break my heart to leave without him, but if he didn't want to go, I wouldn't have any choice but to leave him behind.

"And we gotta get ahold of some weapons. Ain't no two ways about that," Daryl said. I knew it would break _his_ heart to leave without his beloved crossbow, but he was too thoughtful to mention that. He threw me a glance, though, that reminded me of the .38 still tucked under the mattress in our room. One weapon was better than none, but it was only as good as the six bullets that were in it.

"But we're under guard from now until then. We aren't allowed out of this room." I was about to start crying _again_ at the futility of our situation.

"There's a back entrance to this apartment," Kendra suddenly volunteered. We both turned to stare at her uncomprehendingly. "I think it was an elevator shaft or something." She led us over to a bookcase in the living room that Daryl and I had looked at - clearly not closely enough - when we did our search of the place. She dumped a shelf full of books to the floor, and pointed out the clear outline of a door behind it. "The bookshelf is attached to the wall, so we'd need to pull it down." She started pulling the rest of the books off the shelves, but I stopped her.

"Wait, are you sure you want to do this?" I asked her. "You could get into some serious trouble for helping us."

"I know, but it's OK. You're family, and it's the right thing to do to help you. I couldn't bear the thought of you and Daryl sent out into the wilderness with not even a way to defend yourselves. You and that little niece or nephew of mine," Kendra told me with a sad smile.

I was completely stunned by her generosity and possessed by the sudden urge to warn her about what was going to happen here very shortly. Daryl gave me a look that clearly said "NO," and then jumped in, "Thanks much. That means a lot to us." Kendra continued to clear the shelves, but Daryl stopped her. "Hang on, Sunshine, we gotta plan this out 'fore we spring into action."

Kendra grinned from ear to ear at the nickname that Daryl just bestowed on her. "Oh yeah, right!" She giggled, blushing again, and started to replace the books. Daryl and I helped her, trying to make sure it didn't look like we'd been plotting to sneak out through the back door.

The three of us sat together and planned out our escape for tomorrow. As we talked, we came to the unfortunate realization that there was going to need to be a distraction of epic proportions if we were to get out of there with what we needed to survive on the outside. If nothing else, a crossbow was not exactly the easiest weapon to sneak around with. We went round and round with ideas, and then Kendra reminded us that Louie would probably be home any minute. We retreated to our room to avoid a confrontation with him, and Kendra promised she'd run interference if he acted like he was itching for another fight.

_Finally_ getting changed out of the stupid fucking costume I'd been wearing all day, I sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. We both froze as we heard the door open, and Louie came stomping in. Daryl whispered to me, "Do ya think she's gonna rat us out?"

"No, I trust her," I whispered back. _She's in too deep herself_, I thought, but didn't mention that to Daryl. We fell silent as we listened to the fight that ensued outside our door.

"Jesus Christ!" Louie ranted. "I can't believe what that fucking bitch is putting me through! Her _and _her fucking idiot boyfriend. Do you know that they are talking about _demoting_ me because that dipshit ended up on the guard wall? It's not like I don't have a million other things to do, that I have time to monitor the personnel situation on the fucking _guard wall_."

Kendra's response was unintelligible through the door, but her placating tone made it clear she was saying something along the lines of, "There, there, honey."

Louie turned his venom on her. "Ugh! And _you_! You were the one who came up with that fucking moronic idea for the assembly! You gave her free reign to go up there and spout that propagandist bullshit!"

That made my blood pressure skyrocket, and Daryl actually had to wrap one arm around me and put a hand over my mouth to keep me from storming out there and giving that asshole a piece of my mind. Kendra, however, seemed to have turned a corner in these past few hours as far as what she was willing to put up with.

"Hey! _You_ were the one who told Mr. diLeonardo about it! _He_ was the one who said it was a 'great' idea!" she yelled back. I let out a muffled cheer behind Daryl's hand.

This new demonstration of spine obviously caught Louie off-guard. "What? What?" he sputtered.

Before Louie could regain his composure, Kendra kept on going, "The idea that you would be OK with sending your _pregnant_ sister out into the wilderness with a million walkers and no weapon or no horse or _anything_ makes me _sick_. You are _not_ the man I fell in love with!"

There was silence, and Daryl and I both froze. We were both worried that this argument was veering way too close to something where she might accidentally spill our plans, as rudimentary as they might be.

"So what, are you on _their_ side now? Are _you_ in love with that fucking inbred redneck now, too?" Louie demanded.

When Kendra replied, her voice was tearful. "No, but I just don't understand how you can be so cold-hearted to your own flesh and blood. My whole family is dead. I _saw_ them die. I would give _anything_ to have any one of them back. And here you are, ready to send your own sister to a horrible, _horrible_ death because of something that happened a_ lifetime_ ago that wasn't even her fault."

We didn't hear anything else for a long time. Then we heard someone – Louie, I assume – leave, and Kendra went into her room, sobbing quietly. I got up, wanting to go to comfort her, but Daryl grabbed my arm. "Don't. I know you'll wanna tell her what's gonna happen, but you know ya can't. We can't risk it." He was right. I lay down miserably on the bed, and he curled up next to me, his hand on my belly. He whispered to me, "Just imagine us bein' back home. Think about us bein' together with our new baby. Think 'bout Henry bein' there, such a proud uncle."

I sighed. "How can you _still _be so optimistic? I can't even imagine us getting out of here in one piece."

"Funny Girl, what good is worryin' gonna do? It ain't gonna fix anything."

I rolled over to gaze at him. I stared for a long time at his face, completely unknown to me seven short months ago, but now I couldn't even fathom my life without him. A few tears slipped silently down my cheek, and Daryl gently brushed them away. I pulled him to me, kissing him like it might be for the last time. In my mind, that was a distinct possibility. My heart began to race, and I could feel his do the same. I slipped my t-shirt off, and pulled his off, too. I needed to feel his warm skin against mine. He kissed my neck, cupping my breasts in his hands. His tongue on my nipple went through me like lightning, and I let out an involuntary groan. Slipping out of my underwear, I moved underneath him. I ached to have him inside me, but when he slid into me, it almost wasn't enough. I wanted to swallow him up, to keep him safe from what might happen tomorrow. He thrust into me again and again, and then collapsed onto me, spent. I wrapped my arms around him, more silent tears racing down my cheeks.

"Do you understand," I choked out, "just how much I love you? Do you understand that I _can't_ lose you? I _can't._"

Daryl lifted his head to look at me with his clear, clear blue eyes. "Listen to me. I ain't goin' anywhere. I'm gonna be with you when we walk out that gate tomorrow, and I'm gonna be with you when we walk through that gate back at home." He slid alongside me, encircling me in the arms that made me feel so, so safe. Pressing his face to the top of my head, he said, "I love you, Stella. I waited a fuckin' lifetime to find you. I'm not ready to give that up _now_. Got big plans for some long, happy years together."

0000000

We woke up to the sounds of unrest in the hallway. Throwing clothes on, Daryl and I raced out to see Kendra coming out of her bedroom. She looked like she'd had a pretty rough night, and I gave her a sympathetic smile before asking, "What the hell is going on?"

"I have no idea." She went to the hallway and cracked open the door.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance, ma'am. It's all taken care of. Nothing to worry about," one of the guards told her. "Are you doing OK in there? Your…guests aren't causing any trouble for you, are they?"

"No, Larry, but thank you for asking," Kendra responded with forced cheer. "Will they be sending breakfast up today?"

"Yes, I believe so. I'll go and check on that for you." Pause. "You lock the door now, OK?"

"Oh, yeah, OK. I will." Kendra came back in, a look of complete panic on her face. "This is bad. Something big is happening. I know it."

Again, I had to fight the urge to spill everything to her, but I understood now that there was not really anything she could do about it anyway. If she ran, where could she even run to? Daryl had gone back into our room and returned, fully dressed. "OK, I'm gonna see about this elevator shaft. Y'all help me move those books?"

Between the three of us, the shelves were quickly emptied. Daryl yanked on the bookshelf a couple of times, pulling it down, thankfully in one piece. The door was just a piece of wood nailed into the opening, so he pulled that off as well. The three of us gathered at the edge, staring down into a three-story drop.

"How the hell are you going to get down it?" I wondered. "You can't just jump."

"Naw, but I can climb down. Look." Daryl pointed out the web of metal girders that snaked around the outside of the elevator shaft.

I felt slightly faint. "Are you fucking _kidding_ me? What if you fall?"

"Well, hopefully I'll at least be to the second floor by then," he joked, but I didn't find it funny at all.

"Wait! I have an idea." Kendra ran back into her bedroom, coming out with what looked like a uniform of some kind. "Louis went as a messenger for Halloween one year. It's a couple years out of date, but I think it might make you a little less…conspicuous."

Daryl disappeared for a minute and came back out. He looked pretty absurd, but I was too nervous to even tease him about his appearance. "Be careful. I'm going to be so pissed at you if you aren't fucking careful," I warned him.

He gave me the biggest hug and a kiss that I wouldn't forget for a long time. "I'll be back up here to get you. Don't go anywhere, and listen for my knock. You're gonna have to let me back in." Then he slipped down off the edge of the doorway, hanging on by his fingers until his feet found a ledge to rest on. He looked up at me. "I love you, Funny Girl. See ya in a few."

"I love you, too," I told him, stepping away from the ledge because I couldn't bear to watch.

"Come on," Kendra urged me, "We've gotta close this up in case Louis comes back." We gently tapped the door back into place and then slid the bookcase in front of it.

I tried to think of a way that we could put it all back together so that we didn't have to start from scratch when Daryl came knocking again, but I couldn't think of any way that wouldn't look completely obvious. My brain was so clouded with anxiety that I couldn't follow any idea to its logical conclusion anyway. _What if Louie is here when he gets back? What if he doesn't make it back at all? Jesus Christ, shut the fuck up!_ I yelled at my brain.

With Daryl on his mission to secure weapons for our trip, Kendra and I talked over our plan to create a diversion that would let Daryl and I and hopefully Henry slip out unnoticed. This was by far the flimsiest part of an admittedly completely flimsy plan. Kendra was going to sneak into the kitchen and start a fire. Since she used to work there, she was pretty familiar with the layout. "They haven't done a thing to the kitchen in the years since I've been there," she explained. "I still know a couple of the folks down there. I think that I can get in there without them really thinking too much of it.

I grimaced. I didn't think that it would work at all, but it was all we had at this point. _"_Keep thinking. Maybe we'll have a brainstorm in the next three hours." I decided to focus my attention on the next step, which was to get Henry up here, since _I_ clearly wasn't going to be shimmying down an elevator shaft to get to _him_.

"This won't be too hard," Kendra told me. "I'm pretty sure I'll be able to send a message down and someone will bring him up. I'm his sister-in-law, so it shouldn't be too odd." She frowned. "Even though he hasn't ever been up here before." She looked at me. "I'm really sorry I haven't been better to Henry. There's no excuse for me ignoring him like I did."

Now that Daryl wasn't here to stop me, I had to at least give Kendra some kind of warning about the shitstorm that was coming. "Look, Kendra, you need to know-" I stopped, unsure of how to tell her without really _telling_ her. She looked at me expectantly. "I mean, if shit here gets too unstable-" I paused again. "Just understand that there are good people here who don't live on the third floor. Um, just keep an open mind, OK?" Then I gave her a long hug. "You're a good person, under all the fluff."

Kendra gave me a look of complete bafflement. "Uh, thanks, I guess? You're a good person, too. I'm glad I was able to get to know you. I'm sorry that we won't have more time together." She paused. "And I'm sorry that Louis has been such an asshole to you."

"It's not your fault. Those seeds were sown ages ago." I stared at her for a second. "He doesn't deserve you, you know."

She gave me a sad, sad smile. "Maybe so, but that's neither here nor there at this point." Kendra stood up. "OK, I'm going to talk to the guards, and see if there's someone who can get Henry up here." As she went to open the door, it was shoved in from the outside, and there stood three masked, armed people. One had a crossbows trained on us, and the other two held rather large knives. Those knives were soon poking into our backs as they apprehended us. In the hallway, we could see the guards that had been at the door, dead from massive head wounds.

"Kendra Marshall?" demanded the one with the crossbow.

"Yes," she replied nervously. "What do you want?"

"Come with us." Gesturing at me with the bow, he said, "You, too. You're coming with us."

"Um, I know Gabriela!" I said desperately. "I, I mean, WE were helping her!"

Crossbow eyed me suspiciously, but didn't comment further. "Come on, let's bring them downstairs with the rest of them."

I wasn't about to argue anymore when I was so clearly outgunned. _Find me, Daryl_. Raising my hands over my head, I walked out the door, every minute feeling that machete at digging into the small of my back.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chaos and escape! I know I'm not the best "action" writer, so bear with me until we get back to the "relationship" stuff that I'm much better at.**

As they marched Kendra and I down the hallway, it was weirdly quiet. When we got to the second floor, however, the atmosphere was substantially more frantic. Almost everyone was moving quickly down the hall in the same direction we were headed. Occasionally, someone would come running past in the opposite direction, nodding at the guards who were transporting us. The power suddenly went out, causing a few shrieks, and gasps of surprise from Kendra and I, but then I remembered what I heard at the planning meeting about shutting down the generators.

"Right on schedule," muttered Crossbow sarcastically.

I had the slight inkling that their coup was not going as smoothly as they'd planned. Deciding I'd give convincing them that I was on _their_ side another shot, I asked, "You guys know Daryl? He's new but he's been working on the wall, helping to organize? He's my boyfriend. So, you know, uh-"

"I thought you said you weren't involved in this!" Kendra hissed at me, accusingly.

I felt a jab in my back. "Shut up and just keep walking," Machete 1 told us.

I did as I was told, praying that whenever we got to where they were taking us, someone there could vouch for where my loyalties lay.

They pushed us through the doors, and I squinted, temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight. Once I could see again, I realized we were back in the courtyard where everyone had assembled for the rally yesterday. Row upon row of worker stood quietly, facing the makeshift stage that was still there. There was no talking this time, and the intensity of the focused gaze of a thousand plus people was pretty unnerving. Scanning the crowd desperately for Henry and Daryl, I was worried when I didn't see either of them. However, I was relieved to see that there were no children here, and I really hoped they had them all tucked away in a very safe, very secure location. Regardless of whether it was for a good cause, this was no place for kids. While I searched, I became aware that not only did the guards on the wall have weapons - all trained upon the people onstage - but so did a good number of the workers in the crowd. _Oh good, __I guess one of the codes must have worked_, I thought, slightly hysterically.

Kendra and I were shoved up onstage to join the rest of the executives, their wives, and their security detail. Catching sight of Louie in the line, Kendra started crying. Louie remained stone-faced, staring into the distance. He refused to look at me. I continued to search the faces in the crowd for Daryl and Henry, and saw Gabriela appear from the crowd. She had a quick conversation with Crossbow, the guard who had brought us down. He gestured at me to come down off the stage.

Kendra threw me a look of complete terror as I left her up there. I ran over to Gabriela. "You need to let Kendra down. She's _not_ like the rest of them. She's been helping Daryl and me plan our escape."

Gabriela looked at me skeptically. "She's married to an executive. And everything I've ever seen her do indicates she is _not_ one of us."

"She's different now, I swear." I fudged a little bit here to bolster her case. "Now that she's seen what Louie is really like, she wants nothing to do with him. Please let her down. You don't understand how much she's saved my ass today."

Still looking unconvinced, Gabriela sighed. "Let me see what I can do." She conferred with Crossbow and a few others who seemed to be the leaders of this revolution. "We're going to take your word for it. But we can't promise anything for her. If she turns on us, the punishment is going to be severe." Crossbow gestured to Kendra that she could come down to join me in the crowd.

An expression of pure agony played across Kendra's face. She stared down at me for a second and then threw a pained look to Louie. _Oh, please don't make me regret vouching for you!_ I stared at Louie, willing him to tell her to go. _Come on, Louie. Redeem yourself._ He nodded to her, indicating that she should come with me. She hesitated for another minute and then sobbing, she stumbled off the stage. I grabbed her, putting my arms around her. She choked out, "But they're going to _kill _him. They're going to kill _all_ of them."

"No, don't worry. It's a peaceful coup. We have the upper hand, so there's no way they'll do anything but step down." But as I tried to reassure her, I noticed a phalanx of guards with crossbows approaching the stage.

Kendra just shook her head tearfully. "They aren't going to just give up. I'm sure of that."

Crossbow stood in front of the line of guards that now were assembled before the platform. He addressed the executives, "So it should be obvious now that you are outnumbered. People here have had enough. For years, we have suffered under your rule while you have become fat off of our sacrifices. Where there once was a dictatorship of the few, now there will be a dictatorship of the many. We will give you a chance to join us. Who would like to join us?"

There was complete silence as we all were riveted on the group on the stage. _Come on, Louie! _Louie did not move, but there was a ripple of surprise as Mr. diLeonardo himself stepped out of the line and slowly approached Crossbow, his hands behind his head.

Crossbow seemed shocked at this turn of events, but kept his voice commanding as he spoke to the rest of the executives. "Look! Your _leader_ has realized-" Crossbow's speech was cut off as an arrow whizzed through the crowd, piercing his throat. For a split-second, time froze and everyone stared at the surprised expression on his face as he crumpled to the ground.

Then all hell broke loose.

It was immediately clear that the rebels didn't have the upper hand that Gabriela thought they did. It was also clear that they would have benefited from a couple more months of preparation. No one seemed to know what the fuck to do. It was an all out brawl. People were using anything they had, be it fists, clubs, knives, rocks, _whatever_ to beat the shit out of each other. How they even understood who was the "enemy," I have no idea.

Suddenly, I felt Gabriela grab my arm. "Come on!" she screamed. Kendra and I took off after her, dodging and ducking our way through the melee. Gabriela clubbed someone who came flying at us, hatchet drawn. Picking up the hatchet, she tossed her baseball bat to me so that now I had a weapon. I tried not to look at the now prone and lifeless form of the woman who had attacked us, choosing to focus my eyes on the scene around me, looking out for assailants. Kendra kept between the two of us, her face sweaty and her eyes dull. We were making a beeline for the ag building, but just as we reached the door, a man came around the corner of the building, stabbing Kendra in the arm. Without thinking, I swung my bat, cracking him across the small of his back and he collapsed into a heap on the ground. A worker quickly let us into the building, slamming the door behind us and barricading it with a steel beam.

Once inside, we got Kendra onto a table. From the looks of things, the rebels had planned on using the ag center as a triage hospital. There were piles and piles of bandages, antiseptic, and assorted other medical supplies. Kendra was pale and seemed like she might pass out. "Kendra! Kendra, stay with me," I urged her, as Gabriela tried to get a look at the wound. Kendra did not seem to want to move her hand away, and as blood seeped through her fingers, I coaxed her, "Come on. Let Gabriela see. She's a nurse. She can help."

Kendra finally let go of her arm, and Gabriela tore away her sleeve. Kendra looked at me dully. "Louis is dead. They killed him. He's dead. I'm alone." Her voice was a monotone, and her eyes were unfocused.

"You don't know that. He's a smart guy. I'm sure he's now fighting for the workers. I'm sure he understands what's right." I was absolutely lying through my teeth at this point. I had no idea what Louie would think or do, but I knew that the only way to get Kendra to keep it together was to convince her that he would be back.

"OK, it's not too bad," Gabriela said, taping gauze over the wound. "Doesn't even need stitches."

"Awesome!" I said, picking up my baseball bat. "I'm going to go find Daryl and Henry so we can get the fuck out of here."

Gabriela took the bat from me. "Are you nuts? You can't go out there, Stella! It's way too dangerous!" she warned me. "Don't forget you have a baby to think about, too."

Instinctively my hand went to my belly. "But-but I can't just _wait_ for Daryl! I need to find them!" They were going to need to sedate me if they thought I was just going to stay here.

Kendra finally came back to life. "Gabriela's right. You need to stay put. Daryl will come find you."

"How the hell will he know I'm here?" I demanded.

I didn't get an answer from her because at that moment, four fighters with varying degrees of injury came staggering in. Gabriela sprung into action, and seeing us just standing there, she barked at us, "We need your help. Just clean them up and patch them up as good as you can. If it's really bad, call me or one of the other medics, and we can take over."

The next few hours went by in a blur. I wasn't able to think any more about Henry or Daryl or my unborn baby or how we were going to get home. All I had time to do was clean and bandage, clean and bandage. Some of the injured went back out to continue fighting. Some who couldn't, stayed on here. From what I gathered from the ones who wanted to talk, it was either a complete shit show and the rebels were going down, or the executives were minutes away from giving up. I didn't know which one to believe, so I just nodded at them as I worked.

"Stella." I looked up and saw Tomas. "Daryl asked me to bring you to the front gate. He's going to meet you so you guys can get out of here."

I was equal parts ecstatic and distraught. "What about Henry? Where's Henry? I'm not fucking leaving without him!"

"I don't know, but you have to go _now_. Things are really unstable right now. I'm not sure how this is going to turn out," he blurted out. Everyone in the ag center froze and stared at him. They'd heard what the injured rebels had been muttering as they came in, but hearing it from Tomas made everyone understand what the truth of the situation was. Tomas didn't try to explain, but just urged me, "Come on. There's no time. We have to _go_."

Quickly, I gave Kendra a hug. "Please hang in there. Once this is all over, you will be so much happier. Trust me." I was once again lying through my teeth, but I wasn't going to leave her with thoughts of loneliness and desolation.

She just shrugged, clearly exhausted, but then smiled at me. "I'm so glad I got to meet you. Please make it home safe."

I didn't even want to think about the trip home. I was just concentrating on getting through one minute at a time. "I will. Take care, OK?" There really weren't words adequate to express the pile of emotions I was feeling. I hugged her again.

Gabriela came over. "Thank you so much for all that you did for us. I know it doesn't seem that way now, but I _know_ we will come out the winners and Pegasus will be a home to be proud of." She hugged me good-bye, and then said, "For that baby's sake, please don't take any unnecessary chances, OK?"

I nodded and said, "Thank you for all you did for me. I hope that everything works out for you. All of you." I didn't have time to say anything else because Tomas was thrusting the baseball bat at me.

"We're going to make a run for it. Stick close to me, but if anyone threatens, let them have it. The hardest part is going to be getting from here to the main building because it's open field. But once we get to the building, we're almost home free. I'm going to send you guys out a back entrance because it seems like there's less action there." He looked out the door for a second. "Stay as low to the ground as possible and stay _right_ with me. Are you ready?"

I took a deep breath, trying to put my worries about Henry out of my mind. _Just think about getting to the gate. Then we'll figure out what to do about Henry._ I still was resolved to _not_ leaving him behind. "Yeah, I guess so."

Back out into the chaos. Sounds of shouting, fist on muscle, crack of bone. I tried to just keep my focus on Tomas's back, but I kept catching my foot on things. I looked down once and realized the "stick" I'd tripped over was the arm of a dead worker. Retching slightly, I quickly glanced at the face. It was no one I knew. Tomas threw a glance over his shoulder. "Come on!" he shouted.

"Behind you!" I shrieked, spotting a man coming at him. Tomas swung his hatchet around, and the man went down instantly. _Not thinking, just moving, _I told myself. Then we had reached the building, sticking close to the walls to try to make ourselves less easy targets.

"It's just around the other side!" Tomas yelled to me.

As we got closer to the fence, I realized that the outside was _lined_ with walkers, drawn by the noise most likely. My breath caught in my throat. How the hell were we going to get through that? _NO THINKING!_ As we rounded the last corner, I tripped over another body. Tomas ran back to help me up, and as he did, I snuck a glance at the face. _Louie_. My blood ran cold as I stood there, stunned. There was blood all over his face, but it was definitely Louie. "Run!" screamed Tomas, and I saw someone coming up behind us, machete raised over her head. I blindly swung my bat at her, making contact. Not pausing to see the damage I'd inflicted, I turned and ran like hell, not thinking of anything, not Daryl, not Henry, not Louie. I just ran. We made it to the gate, pressing flat against the stone towers.

"You said Daryl would be here! Where the fuck is he?" I demanded.

"He'll be here. Watch out!" Tomas yelled. I ducked, and Tomas swung his ax into the head of another attacker. I closed my eyes, willing this nightmare to just _be over_. In this corner of the compound, there were definitely fewer humans fighting, so the danger the walkers posed quickly took precedence. "Here, take her knife. We need to clear out a path for you guys." He started stabbing the walkers that were closest to the gate, and I quickly followed suit.

Then there was the sound of hooves, and I beheld the best thing I could have possibly seen ever: two horses, one ridden by Daryl and one ridden by Henry. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" was all I could say.

Several of the rebels followed close behind them, and immediately took off down the fenceline, away from the gate. They ran their clubs and sticks along the fence to draw the attention of the walkers. The walkers soon took note and started shuffling after them.

"Get on with Henry!" Daryl shouted to me. I swung up behind Henry, hugging him with all my might, despite his wriggling in discomfort. Daryl continued with instructions. "The fightin' has drawn all the walkers from miles 'round. You and Henry need to haul ass back to Danny's camp. Do you 'member how t' get there?" I nodded, mutely. "I'm gonna create a diversion. I'll meet up with y'all back at Danny's."

"What the fuck are you talking about? We are _not_ splitting up!" I screamed at him. There was _no fucking way_.

"No choice, Funny Girl! And no time to argue." He leaned in close to me, kissing me. Seeing the complete and total terror in my eyes, he told me, "'Member what I promised ya last night. We're goin' out this gate together. We're gonna go through the gate at home together, too. I _promise_. I love you."

"I love you, too," I said, too stunned to even cry.

"We've got an opening!" Tomas shouted from his position at the gate. "You guys have to go!" Daryl nodded at him to open the gate, and as he was leaving, he shouted back to me, "Gimme five minutes t' start leadin' them away, then you go! I'll be at Danny's by mornin'!" And he was gone, whooping and hollering, the crowd of walkers at the gate slowly shuffling away from the fence, following him.

In five minutes, Henry and I were out onto the road, the gate clanging shut behind us. I kicked that horse with all my might, and we took off in the opposite direction that Daryl had gone, hauling ass back to Louisville.


	15. Chapter 15

**...in which Stella cries a lot**

It was the middle of the night when Henry and I reached the camp. We rode that horse so hard, I was afraid we might kill it, but there was no way in hell we were stopping until we got to Danny's. Henry kept the reins, and I whacked so many walkers along the way that I could barely lift my arms anymore.

We thundered up to their gate, and I shrieked for Danny or June or anyone to come help us. Henry just sat there, completely still, not saying a word. I jumped down off the horse and collapsed to the ground. My legs were numb from the ride. I could hear a commotion back at the house, and I screamed again, "It's Stella! Please let me in!" Staggering to my feet, I could hear movement in the brush behind us, and I flailed my arms out to get ahold of my bat. But then the gate opened, and Randy was lifting me up. He carried me inside the fence, Henry following, and slammed the gate just as the walkers began to emerge from the woods.

I must have passed out because when I jerked awake, I was in bed. Throwing off the covers, I leaped up, running outside, running into Danny. "Where's Daryl? He's supposed to meet me here! Where the hell is he?"

"He'll be here. Just gotta be patient a little while longer. If that's what he told ya he'd be here, I'm sure he'll be here soon," Danny replied soothingly.

"We have to go look for him! He's out there! He was creating a diversion! They were all following him!" I couldn't stay here. I couldn't just wait here. _I couldn't_ _do it._

Realizing I was just a hair's breath away from running out that gate, Danny grabbed me in a giant bear hug. "Hey, it's OK. Just calm down. You're OK. It's gonna be OK."

My knees buckled, and I broke down into sobs that felt like they came up from the bowels of the earth. Danny slid to the ground next to me, rocking me in his arms, whispering calming words into my ear. Randy came down the path, bow slung over his shoulder. Danny said to him softly, "Go get your mama."

Then June was there, guiding me to my feet, settling me back into bed. Once I had finally run out of tears, taking giant, shuddering breaths to gather my wits about me again, she went to get me a cup of tea. When she returned, she handed me a mug and some bread with butter. Smoothing my hair out of my face, she said, "You should probably eat something, honey." I had no appetite, but I took a bite of bread and a sip of tea only because she'd brought them. "Danny, Randy and Renee are going out to look for Daryl. I'm sure he's fine, but he might appreciate a little help getting back here."

The family's kindness never ceased to amaze me. "Thank you so much," I whispered. "How's Henry?"

June told me, "I think he might've been in shock when y'all got here last night. We just showed him to a bed and let him be. I think he's still sleeping. It's pretty early."

"That's probably the best thing for him right now." Right this minute, I didn't have the energy to worry about Henry. He was safe here, and that was enough. My stomach twisted as I thought of Daryl, still out there. I remembered him riding off into the distance last night, a crowd of walkers shuffling after him. I put down the mug, sobbing again.

"It'll be OK, honey. You've got yourself one tough man. He isn't gonna let some nasty old walkers get him." She grabbed my hand. "You need to just try and relax. I know it's not easy, but it's not good for you to stay so worked up."

I stared at her through my tears. "You knew, didn't you? You knew I was pregnant. When we left here?"

A huge grin spread across June's face, and she hugged me tight. "I suspected, but I wasn't sure. There was just something about you that made me think it. Oh congratulations, Stella! Y'all must be over the moon about it."

I sighed. It was hard to even think about the pregnancy with the chaos that had been going on around me. "Not at first," I admitted, "but now we are. I think Daryl is probably more excited than I am." Again, that pang of anxiety tightened across my chest.

"That's even more reason for him to get his ass back here. Don't you worry," June said again. "He'll be back." She stood up. "I'm going to go start breakfast. You stay here and rest. I know it's probably impossible, but _try_ to get some more sleep."

As she headed out, a thought occurred to me. "Did you say _Renee_ was here?" I asked.

"Oh yeah," June replied. "I forgot that happened after y'all had left. That's Randy's new girlfriend. He went out to do some scavenging on the Indiana side of the river and came home with a pretty little lady."

That finally got a smile out of me. I was pretty sure there was quite a bit more to the story than what June knew, but I wasn't going to rat Randy out. "Good for him."

0000000

I didn't sleep any more. I came out to a quiet breakfast with Megan, Kelly, June and Henry. It made me happy to see Henry and Kelly, noses buried in books, taking bites of breakfast almost as an afterthought. As soon as Kelly was excused, Henry followed her out. I was pretty certain I knew where they were headed: to the hammocks out by the river. Then I sighed, picking at my breakfast. I couldn't think of anything else but Daryl right now.

"You know they're going to find him, right?" Megan said, reading my mind. I nodded mutely. "Danny and Randy are fantastic trackers. And that Renee is no slouch herself."

The mention of Renee again was a welcome diversion from the monologue of fear running through my head. "Yeah, June told me that Randy met her across the river. What's she like?" I was extremely curious of what they knew about Renee.

"Well, first of all, she's just adorable! A tiny little thing with freckles and a mess of curly blond hair. And according to Randy, she's an expert hunter," June gushed. "He said he met her on the road, and she put him up with her and her sisters for a night or two. Then he brought her back here. Even though it hasn't been too long at all, I think he's smitten. Danny thinks he's moving a little too fast, but my thought is: life's short, why waste time when you found the one for you?"

_Sisters, huh?_ It was impossible for me not to grin at this story, but again, I figured what Randy's family didn't know wouldn't hurt them. "Well, Daryl and I have only been together not quite six months, and look at us: getting married and a baby on the way." As soon as I said that, I realized that neither June nor Megan knew _all_ of my news.

"You're pregnant?!" Megan said at the same time that June cried, "Oh, y'all are getting married, too?" I smiled and bobbed my head. "Well, you _have_ to tell us how he proposed!" Megan demanded.

So I filled them in on the story of how we found out I was pregnant and how Daryl had popped the question, showing them the metal band he gave me to seal the deal. June and Megan were hanging onto my every word, and June was tearing up a little, like a proud mother. My happy story trailed off when I said, "We're planning on getting married when we get back home…." And then my thoughts went to Daryl, somewhere out in the woods, and I couldn't say anymore. I stood up. "I'm going to go check on Henry."

As I was walking away, Megan stopped me. "You know, if ever want to talk about what happened while you were away, you can. It's hard, but it can make you feel better to get it off your chest."

I nodded, giving her a weak smile. I walked out towards the river and spotted Henry exactly where I'd figured he'd be. Kelly was in her usual hammock, and Henry was in the other one, both of them still glued to their books. I didn't bother them. I knew that if _I _didn't want to talk about what we'd just been through, _Henry _absolutely wouldn't. So I went down to the river's edge and sat down on a log, remembering the day Daryl and I spent out here, only a week ago but seeming like a decade. I rested my hand on my belly and with all my might, willed Daryl to come home.

0000000

By dinner time, neither Daryl nor the search party had returned, and I could see the strain starting to show on June and Megan's faces now. None of us could keep up any kind of conversation. We had tried to pass the time with cleaning and then with cards, but nothing could take our minds off our people out beyond the fence. I realized with sadness that my guitar had been left behind in our mad dash out of Pegasus, but I thought irrationally that maybe that was a sign Daryl was going to come home. I'd lose my guitar but get to keep my love. That thought quickly faded as the minutes of waiting stretched into hours.

As we were setting out the dinner that none of us were hungry for, we heard a call from outside the fence. "Y'all come quick! We need a hand here!" It was Randy's voice, and the three of us took off running.

I gasped at the sight of Daryl, covered in blood and half-conscious, leaning heavily on Danny's shoulder. It made my knees go weak for a second to see him in that state. "DARYL! Oh my God! Oh my God, he's not bit, is he?" I demanded as I ran to help.

"Nope, not bit. I think he mighta broke his collarbone or something, so be careful," he warned me.

"Daryl, love, hey, it's me," I said to him.

His eyes came back into focus as he looked down at me. "Hey Funny Girl, sorry I'm late."

I was so relieved that I started giggling and crying at the same time. "You're back."

We got him settled in bed, and June appeared with a tub of water, sponge, and some bandages. "Do you need any help?" she asked me. I shook my head, and she left us alone.

I promptly started crying again. "H-here, let me help you get your clothes off," I choked.

"Wait," Daryl mumbled. "C'mere." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him, but then winced at the movement.

I knelt down next to the bed and laid my head on his chest, listening blissfully to the miraculous sound of his heartbeat. He put his good arm around me, tangling his fingers in my hair, and we stayed like that, not talking but understanding fully just how lucky we were to be reunited here.

0000000

Several hours later, I woke up in the chair next to Daryl's bed. It took my breath away just how glad I was to see him sleeping there. I leaned down and pressed my lips against his forehead, careful not to wake him. He was clean, dressed in some of Danny's borrowed clothes, with his left arm braced against his torso by several long strips of fabric torn from old sheets. He had a multitude of cuts and bruises, including the one below his eye that had been inflicted by Louie, which was turning yellow at this point. _Louie_. I forced that thought out of my mind - I wasn't ready to deal with it yet, quietly stepped out of our room and found Randy and Renee sitting at the kitchen table, snacking on apples and popcorn. Suddenly, I was ravenous and sat down to join them.

"How's he doing?" Renee asked.

"He's sleeping. God, it is so good to have him back with me. To know he's _safe_," I blurted out. "I don't think there are any words in the English language that can express how grateful I am to you guys." I popped an apple slice in my mouth, and it was deliciously sweet and tart at the same time. "Where did you find him?"

"'Bout ten miles out," Randy told me. "He was up a tree. He wasn't talkin' much sense, but it sounded like walkers got his horse at some point, so he had to go on foot a pretty long ways. Managed to hang onto that ol' crossbow, though."

"I think it's the source of all his power," Renee joked. "It's like Sampson and his hair. He can't lose it."

I laughed at that, and it felt so good that I just kept on laughing. I had been a massive knot of tension for almost this entire journey, and it all released in one silly fit. My hysterics got a chuckle from Randy and a giggle from Renee and soon _they_ were cracking up, too. Letting out a massive sigh, I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Seriously, thank you."

Randy gave me a sly smile, putting his arm around Renee's shoulders. "Way I see it, I owed Daryl one, anyway."

That threatened to send me into another fit of giggles, but I managed to say, "So what did you think of Renee's '_sisters'_? Pretty interesting family, huh?" Renee actually blushed slightly, which led me to believe that there was definitely more to the story than just Randy meeting Renee and then they lived happily ever after. I didn't want her to think that I was upset with her about what went on when we stayed there, so I told her, "Hey, I know what you said to Daryl while we were there, and I appreciate you looking out for us. Then _and_ now," I added.

She shrugged. "It's no problem. I could tell Daryl's a faithful guy, but it's an…unusual situation there, to say the least." After a pause, she said, "Hey, congratulations!" and then looked a little guilty. "Sorry, June ratted you out. She was so excited, she couldn't keep her mouth shut."

Instinctively, my hand went to my belly, which was only now starting to round slightly. It was hard to believe that the fact I was _pregnant_ kept slipping my mind, but I hoped fervently that it would be the only thing to occupy my thoughts from here on out. Smiling, I replied, "Thanks. It will be good to get back home so we can finally start getting ready."

We sat and chatted for a little bit longer, until the bowls of snacks were empty. It was a relief to just shoot the shit about nothing more important than the weather or how big the pumpkins in the garden were getting.

"Thank you," I said for about the millionth time, laughing at myself. "I think I'm just going to get those words tattooed on my forehead." Now that I knew Daryl was going to be OK, and I felt much _much _calmer than I had in a long time, I decided it was time to go check on Henry. I headed towards the hammock where I'd last seen him, but he wasn't there. A pang of anxiety tickled my stomach, but I quickly quieted it. _We're safe here. Henry is fine._ Kelly was still lying there, reading, so I asked her if she knew where he'd gone.

She fixed me with a stare for a minute before saying, "He went to see you."

"Thanks," I told her. "And thanks for making him feel welcome." Her only response was another expressionless stare, so I just smiled at her and headed back to my room. To my complete astonishment, I heard Henry's voice through the curtains. Pulling the sheet back, I found him, seated in the chair I'd been sleeping in, reading to Daryl from what appeared to be a book about Thomas Edison. Daryl fixed me with an exhausted smile, patting the edge of the bed where I perched, careful not to jostle him too much. Taking in the scene was all the provocation I needed to start crying again.

Henry rolled his eyes at me. "Jeez, Stella. Why are you _always_ crying?" He looked at Daryl. "Does she cry all the time now? She never cried when I was little."

"It's them hormones, man. They go crazy in a pregnant lady," he told Henry, placing a warm hand on the small of my back.

"Oh, wait, I never told him-" I started to say, but from the look on Henry's face, I could tell my being pregnant was not news to him. "How did you know?" I asked.

"Daryl told me." Henry's interest in this conversation had quickly faded, and he was now focused on his book again.

"When? Just now?" Sometimes it was completely exasperating trying to pull information out of him. I looked to Daryl for help, but he was just grinning at my confusion.

"No, before we left Pegasus."

"OK, seriously, one of you has got to fill me in on what I'm missing here!" I grabbed the book from Henry, and he glared at me.

"Don't lose my page. I was just getting to the good part," Henry warned me.

I told him, "You'll get it back after you tell me how Daryl convinced you to leave Pegasus when I couldn't."

Henry looked at me like I was a complete idiot. "I was planning to go the whole time. I'd have to be stupid to want to stay there. You said I could read as much as I wanted and have a cat at your place."

Daryl raised an eyebrow at me, but I just shook my head slightly. "OK, but what did he _say_ to you?" I asked Henry.

Henry heaved a tremendous sigh of irritation. "He said that you would be really sad if I didn't come. And that you were going to have a baby and I would be an uncle and you would need my help. But I'm pretty sure he was just making up the part about me helping. And then I asked if he was good at killing zombies, and he said he was the best. So I went with him." He held out his hand for his book, which I gave back without comment, as I was too stunned by what he'd just told me to say anything. "I'm going back out to read." He paused on his way out, hugging me awkwardly around the head with one arm, and I'm sure you can guess what I did next. "Ugh, you really need to quit that."

"Seriously, it's a wonder I'm not dehydrated by now from all the fucking crying I'm doing," I commented to Daryl through my tears and started cracking up again. He did, too, and it was glorious, being able to sit there with him and just laugh, knowing that the two most important people in my life were here, and were safe, with me.


	16. Chapter 16

**recovery**

We stayed at Danny's camp for two weeks. As much as I was so very ready to be home, I was quite happy to wait here until Daryl was recovered enough to make the trip back. With both Daryl and Henry safe, I could contentedly spend time with this wonderful family in a gorgeous, peaceful place.

The first night after they brought Daryl home, I think I slept sixteen hours. I would have preferred to be curled up next to him but because of his shoulder, I had to be satisfied with a bed next to his. I stretched out my arm so I could touch him, and kept a hand on his chest all night, feeling it rise and fall. After the first couple of days, Daryl could not be in any way enticed or convinced to stay in bed. Sitting around doing nothing drove him crazy, putting him in such a foul mood that we quickly gave up and let him do what he wanted. It was pretty amazing what he could accomplish with only one good arm. His crossbow had gotten damaged during his flight through the woods, so he'd been trying to get it back in working order. I even caught him practicing with it, which he was surprisingly good at it although it was a major struggle for him to keep it balanced since he couldn't use his left hand. I know he was thinking ahead to how he was going to defend us when we left this place, but I wouldn't let myself think about that right now.

June doted on me, constantly bugging me to eat more, get more rest. I probably _was_ too skinny for where I was in my pregnancy, but escaping a war zone and fighting your way through a mess of walkers will do that to you. Under her watchful eye, though, I began to put on more weight, and Daryl took special pleasure in watching my belly grow.

Daryl and I finally told each other our stories about what had happened that final day at Pegasus and during the trip here. It took a couple of days because I don't think either of us was too eager to reflect on the details. On a sunny afternoon, Daryl and I walked down to what I had started to think of as our spot by the river because we would go down there on every clear day to either talk or just watch the river go by. It had gotten too chilly for swimming now, so we just sat contentedly on a log, Daryl with his good arm around me, me with my head on his shoulder.

As it turned out, neither he nor Henry were out in the yard that day of the coup at Pegasus. After Daryl left our room via the old elevator shaft, he went first to the basement to take a final look at our truck, even though he knew it was stone dead. The basement was a hive of activity, with people running here and there, trying to make final preparations for the uprising. "Was pretty clear from the start that they weren't ready, but seemed like people had been riled up by your song. Guess they wanted to strike while the iron was hot," Daryl explained. "I knew then that truck or no truck, we had t' get th' hell outta there."

Because of the chaos, he was able to get around pretty easily with no one even attempting to stop him. The executives and guards had all been rounded up by that point. He got the .38 from the truck and went to check on the weapons locker to see if he could get his hands on his crossbow. "Your hunch was right 'bout the code," he told me, and I felt good that I had contributed to our escape in at least one small way. There was a dispute with a couple of guys at the locker over Daryl's ownership of the crossbow, but he was able to convince them it was actually his. He said this with a grin, so I'm assuming it was more than just his words that helped them decide to hand over his beloved weapon.

Running into Tomas and Gabriela helped him locate Henry. When he found out they were moving all of the workers outside, he knew he needed to find Henry, convince him to go, and then find a safe place for him to hide until the right time. Gabriela went with him to Henry's workshop, and her authority was what released Henry to Daryl's custody.

This was the part I was most curious about. "Did he just _go_ with you willingly?"

Daryl looked a little guilty. "Uh, no he didn't wanna come with me at first, so I kinda made a little show with the .38." Seeing my shocked expression, he quickly added, "I didn't _point _it at him or nothin'. I just had it in my hand when I was talkin' to him. I didn't threaten him, but I guess it helped him make up his mind."

Judging from Henry's relative friendliness with Daryl now, I figured no damage was done so I wasn't mad about it. In fact, I would have been OK with him handcuffing Henry and hauling him away kicking and screaming if it had been what it took to get him to leave with us. "Then what?"

Daryl retold the conversation that he and Henry had had, in which Henry agreed to go with us. It was pretty much verbatim what Henry had told me earlier. I shook my head, a little smile on my face. _My men of few words_. He found a small room on the first floor near a door convenient for a speedy exit, and Henry agreed to wait there, door locked until Daryl came for him.

At that point, he came back upstairs, thinking that somehow the rebels would have known who I was and left me in Louie's apartment. "When I saw the dead guards and the door hangin' open, my heart 'bout stopped. I fuckin' freaked out," he told me, his face getting flushed just at the memory. As he was tearing back down the hallway, he heard the shots from the field and the fighting breaking out and he raced outside. "It was a complete fuckin' shitstorm out there. Like a fuckin' bar brawl on steroids. No one knew what the fuck was goin' on, but they were sure as hell gonna take someone down. Never seen nothin' like it."

Daryl said he had no idea where to look for me but he found Tomas, who said that I was with Gabriela in the ag center and that I was safe. He asked Tomas to get me in an hour and meet him by the front gate. "I knew you were safer there than runnin' 'round with me," Daryl explained, "but now th' clock was tickin'." He went off to look for some kind of transportation, and figuring horses were probably the best bet, he headed to the barn. It was weirdly quiet over there, compared to where he'd just left, but it seemed like the fighting hadn't made it that far yet. The horses and other animals were extremely jittery, so it was a challenge to find any that would let him near them. "Had to be the fuckin' horse whisperer with the damn things, but I managed to snag two. Knew I couldn't manage three by myself."

Then he went to retrieve Henry, who apparently wasn't quite so keen on leaving when he saw the complete chaos going on around him. "So I guess I had to be th' Henry whisperer, too. Reminded him of all the stuff that we talked 'bout earlier an' how sad you'd be if he didn't come. Ran through every fuckin' thing I could think of to convince him, short of pullin' out the .38 again. Finally told him that I had two horses an' I couldn't manage them both by m'self, and for some reason, that did the trick."

Now that we were all safely away from Pegasus, I could laugh about it. "He can be such a stubborn little shit sometimes, can't he?"

Daryl rolled his eyes, grinning back. "Such a pain in the ass. But once I got 'im up on the horse, we took off to find you. And goddamn were you a sight for sore eyes." He hugged me to him, kissing me on my forehead. "What 'bout you?"

I sighed. I was exhausted from just listening to Daryl's story and being taken back to the chaos even in memories, but I knew I owed him. So I told him about getting taken away with Kendra, and being able to convince them to let her go with me. I explained what I was doing in the ag center, and how Tomas helped me get to the gate. I finally voiced one of the things that had been gnawing at me since then. "I think I may have killed a few people," I mumbled. The guilt over that had formed a cold knot in my stomach that I'd tried to ignore. "I mean, they were attacking me, and I just…did it. I didn't have a choice!" I cried, as if I needed to convince him.

Daryl looked me in the eyes. "Darlin', you did what you had to do. It was do or die. It's a fuckin' shitty thing, but you ain't guilty of anythin' me or anyone else in your shoes wouldn'ta done." He looked out at the river for a minute, muttering, "Jesus Christ, I hope ya never have t' go through that again."

Crying silently, I told him the other thing that had been weighing heavily on me. "Louie is dead. I saw him as I was coming to meet you at the gate." Without a word, he pulled me to his chest, wrapping his good arm around me tightly. And he just let me cry for the brother that I'd lost, and the relationship that we'd never had. Finally, I said, "I still need to tell Henry."

He spoke into my hair, "Yeah, but that can wait until you're ready."

0000000

Coming back from the garden one afternoon, I spotted Henry sitting with Daryl at a table out in front of the house, Daryl's crossbow lying on the table in front of them. Henry had a book open in his lap; he seemed to feel more comfortable talking to people if he could dive for cover in his book if things got too uncomfortable. It was clear even from a distance that Henry was getting a tutorial on how he crossbow worked.

"So what's going on here?" I asked, delighted to see my two favorite people together completely of their own accord.

"Well, Spock here was askin' me some questions about my crossbow." Daryl informed me, clearly pleased that Henry had come to talk to him. I winced a little at Daryl's nickname for him, not sure how Henry would take it, but Henry just smiled at the table. Daryl continued, "Seems he's readin' a book 'bout a girl who uses a bow an' arrow to win some kinda contest, and he was curious 'bout how a crossbow compared."

"It's not just any contest," Henry corrected him, holding up his book for us to see. "It's the _Hunger Games_. It's where kids fight each other to the death for the entertainment of the people of the Capitol."

Daryl gave him a disbelieving look. "And that's a _kids_ book? That's some fucked up shit right there."

Daryl's cursing made Henry smile even wider. "Yeah, it's some pretty fu-" Henry started to echo Daryl's words but couldn't handle the conversational swearing. "It's pretty intense," he finished. "I'll let you read it when I'm done." And with that, Henry was done with us and headed off, presumably to read more.

"Wow. I just never…. Wow." I sat down next to Daryl, at a loss for words.

"Yeah," Daryl replied. "Pretty cool, huh?"

0000000

"Hey darlin'." Daryl's quiet growl woke me from a doze. It was late into the night and the rest of the house was silent. "Come lay here with me. I miss sleepin' with you."

"I don't want to hurt you," I told him sleepily, but got up out of my cot and slid in next to him. He was right; it was no fun sleeping in separate beds. I carefully settled myself in under his good arm, and he began running his fingers up and down my neck like I loved. It always made me shiver in a delicious kind of way. I slipped my hand under his worn t-shirt. The nights had gotten chillier, and it was lovely to feel the warmth of him next to me. His hand began to expand its territory, and soon it was tickling the side of my breast. I giggled. "Oh, I see what you're up to." Then I slid my hand down just below his belly button, my pinky slipping just under the edge of his boxers.

"Whatcha talking 'bout?" he said quietly, faking innocence. "You're the one with your hand down m' shorts." But as he said this, he cupped my breast in his hand and ran his finger over my nipple. Daryl's range of motion was pretty limited, so I carefully straddled him, trying not to jostle him too much. He winced a little, so I started to move off but he stopped me. "No, it's fine." I leaned down to kiss him.

My shirt was soon off, and then my shorts, and when I slid him into me, he grabbed my hips and held me still for just a minute. When he relaxed his grip, I began to slowly rock, so as not to hurt him and not to make too much noise. It turned into the most luxurious, most erotic thing we'd ever done. A muffled groan was all the noise we made as we came.

As I lay beside him again, he told me about his trip from Pegasus here. His voice was drowsy and slow, a complete contrast to the frantic pace of his journey. There wasn't a whole lot to tell; it was an exhausting battle with walkers from start to finish. Daryl outran the group that he drew away from Pegasus, but kept coming up on one cluster after another. "Musta been all the noise I was makin'. I had that horse goin' full tilt." He didn't have time to collect arrows from all of the walkers he shot, so he found a thick branch that he used to club them as he went. Once the sun went down, he realized he was ridiculously lost. Then his horse lost its footing in the dark, throwing him off, breaking his collarbone. In the process, he also cut his head open and his back, too, from the crossbow. He managed to climb up a tree so he would at least be safe for the night, fully expecting the horse not to make it. Daryl was right. In the middle of the night, the horse began to scream in fear and then in pain, and he could hear the walkers feeding below him.

Daryl stayed up in that tree all the next day, going in and out of consciousness from pain and loss of blood. He had at least managed to wedge himself into a spot where the branches would keep him from falling out. Then when he heard someone shout his name, he thought he was hallucinating. But he looked down, and there were Danny, Randy, and Renee. "They somehow got me down from that tree an' brought me back here. You'll have to ask them how th' hell they pulled that off, though. I don't 'member any of it."

As with every story we'd told from that journey, we were both reminded of how close we came to losing each other. And once again, we lay there in silence, our breathing in sync, overwhelmed with gratitude for the miraculous fact that we were back together.


	17. Chapter 17

**home**

And then it was time to leave again. I tried to convince Daryl that we could easily wait another week or so until he was really healed up, but he insisted that he was good enough for traveling. I know he wanted to get me home so we could get settled before the baby came, even though that was months away still. I was feeling fantastic, but June kept fretting about my being able to see a "real doctor." I think that was weighing on Daryl's mind, too.

Several days before we left, I finally told Henry about Louie. I found him in his usual spot in the hammock, nose buried in a book. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?

"Is it about leaving? We already talked about that." Henry wasn't too thrilled to be going back on the road again, but he was so enthralled with Daryl at this point, I was pretty sure Henry would follow him back to Pegasus if Daryl said it was a good idea. I actually felt the slightest twinge of jealousy at how Henry now clearly preferred Daryl's company to mine, but I was able to quickly shut that down and just appreciate the fact that Henry had accepted Daryl so much faster than I'd even thought possible.

"No, it's about something else. It's about Louie," I told him. "Can you close your book for a minute?"

Shutting the book, Henry sighed like I was the most annoying sister in the world. He still kept his eyes glued to the cover, but at least I knew he was listening. I hesitated for a minute, trying to think of the best way to start, even though I'd gone over it a million different ways in my mind. Simple and direct was always better with Henry, so I said, "Henry, Louie's dead. I'm really sorry." I watched for a change in his expression, but it remained blank. It was one of the things that was so hard to understand about him: he could have a million thoughts racing through his head, but his face would remain stoic.

Eventually, he asked, "How do you know?" He still did not look up, and the only clue that I had to what was going on in his head was that he was now tearing little slits into the edge of the cover of his book.

"I saw him. Before I left Pegasus. He must have gotten killed during the fighting." I could feel a lump forming in my throat at the memory, but I fought it, knowing my crying would only make Henry want to walk away from me.

He shot me the briefest glance out of the corner of his eye. "Are you sad about it?"

"Yes."

"Why? He wasn't very nice to you." Henry's voice had no bitterness when he spoke; he was just stating a fact.

"I know, but I'm still sad. He was my brother, so I loved him, even though I didn't _like_ him very much," I explained, hoping that made sense to Henry. "Are you sad?"

There was a very long pause before he responded. "I don't know."

"It's OK if you are, and it's OK if you aren't. There's nothing wrong with feeling however you feel." I watched his face for a moment, trying to read his mind. "Do you want to talk about it any more? Or ask me any more questions?"

Again, there was another silence. "No, I'd just like to read."

"OK, but if you have any questions later or want to talk or _anything_, you can ask me. Don't worry about making me sad." I started to get up to leave him to his book, and then had a thought. "You could talk to Daryl about it, too, if you want. He's lost some people close to him, so he knows what it's like."

But Henry was done with the conversation and just nodded, clearly wanting me to go away. And I did, respecting his need for solitude.

0000000

The morning came when it was finally time for us to hit the road. Everyone had been bustling around, helping us get what meager possessions we had left packed up. Naturally, June was loading us down with all sorts of food for the trip. Randy and Renee were going to come with us as far as Renee's place, where we planned on spending the night. Other than that, the idea was to get home as quickly as possible, and hopefully with as little excitement as possible. I was pretty done with excitement at this point and craved the peace and stability of being back at home.

Danny gave us the extremely generous gift of a horse. We tried to refuse it, but he just laughed at us, shaking his head. "And how th' hell else are y'all gonna get home? All three of ya gonna ride t'gether?"

I gave him the longest hug, and June got one as well. "You have no idea how amazing you guys are. After what we've seen on the road, you all give me some faith in humanity."

Danny got a little misty at that, so he quickly went to busy himself with loading up our horses. June was teary, too, but not embarrassed. "We have something for you." She motioned to Kelly, who was standing on the edge of the group next to Henry. She came forward with what looked like a picture frame and handed it to me wordlessly. Looking down at it, I saw the photo of my dad that I'd taken from Louie's stash back at Pegasus, and now _I_ teared up. June explained for Kelly, "I found that picture in your jeans when I was doing the wash. Kelly made the frame for it for you."

I crouched down in front of her, looking her in the eyes, knowing her well enough not to hug her. "Thank you so much. It's beautiful." She just gave me a shy smile and went back to stand behind Megan.

Randy, Daryl, and Danny came back to the rest of us. "Ready to roll, darlin'?" Daryl asked me.

I looked over to Henry, and he nodded and came to join us. There were hugs all around, and more tears. I told Megan, "I know it's not as easy as just a jaunt down the road or anything, but we gave Danny that map to where we are. If anything happens, if you guys need _anything_, come find us."

Megan smiled and nodded. "Take care, OK? Be careful out on the road."

June hugged Daryl and then shook her finger at him, "Now you be sure to take care of your woman and that little baby, OK? I'm trusting you to keep 'em both happy."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, grinning down at her and giving her a salute like he had the first time we left. And then we climbed up on the horses, and with Randy and Renee leading the way, we left paradise once again.

0000000

By early afternoon, we had reached Renee's place without too much drama. We were trying to be as quiet as possible, so as not to draw too much attention from the walkers, but it was inevitable that they would notice our little parade down the road. There were just a couple at a time, easily handled by Randy and Renee. I could see that Daryl was chafing a little at missing out on the fun, but he knew that his shoulder was not in the greatest shape, and that he shouldn't jump in until it was absolutely necessary. Megan had fashioned a sling for him, but it didn't do anything to get him to keep his arm in it. Thankfully, his talents were not needed during this leg of our journey.

As we approached Renee's house, Nora was on guard, and she shouted to the other girls that Renee was back and had brought company. Once we were inside the gate, dismounting from our horses, I hissed at Renee, "You tell them to stay the _fuck_ away from Henry, OK?"

Daryl overheard, and with a wicked grin, he teased, "Are you cock-blocking Henry? Some friend you are!"

He got a punch in his good arm for that. "Ugh, stop! I'm his _sister_, and it's my job to protect him from-" I couldn't even finish that line of thought. "Ugh, this is totally grossing me out. Stop."

We had debated continuing on further since it was still so early, but we couldn't make the trip in a single day even at a gallop, so Renee's place was our best option. I was relieved that Renee waylaid the girls as they came out of the house to fill them in on my directive. I caught a couple of disappointed faces as they eyed Henry over Renee's shoulder, so I grabbed him and brought him inside.

"So how are you doing?" I asked him. "Holding up, OK?"

"Yeah, but can you ride with Daryl tomorrow? You keep squishing me up in the saddle," Henry told me. Before I could respond, he froze, a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

"What? What is it?" For the life of me, I had no idea _what_ he was thinking.

"Shhhh." I was quiet, listening for whatever it was that had so piqued his interest. Then I heard a tiny meow. "They have _kittens_!" he crowed.

_Oh dear lord, _I thought. "Well, maybe it's just-"

Daryl came in with Tamika, who was immediately bombarded with questions from Henry. "Do you have kittens? I think I heard kittens meowing. Do you know where they are? Can I see them?"

Tamika threw me a bewildered look, clearly not expecting a guy Henry's age to be quite so worked up at the prospect of kittens. I smiled, satisfied that Henry himself would do pretty well at making these women keep their distance. She replied to Henry, "Yeah, do you want to see them?"

Did he ever! Henry followed Tamika into the other room, and Daryl leaned over to me, "You know this means we're gonna be cartin' a damn _cat_ home with us, right?"

0000000

After dinner, Henry went up to his room with a kitten, a book, and a rapturous expression on his face. Daryl and I joined the rest of the crew outside for another bonfire. As I watched them laughing and drinking, it struck me how much my life had changed in the month since we'd left here. When I turned down the drinks that were offered, Lisa teased me, "Did you learn your lesson from last time?"

Before I could answer, Daryl piped up, "Nah, just that she's pregnant," and then grinned like a fool.

Cheers went up from the group, and Tisha held up a glass, "To gorgeous people having gorgeous babies!" and everyone drank to that. I had thought at one point how annoying it would be to have to be the only sober one among a bunch of drunks, but honestly, it was pretty amusing. Eventually, Lisa asked if I'd play something, and I had to explain that my guitar was long gone.

"Oh, I have one!" Nora cried, leaping up. "I'm just not very good at playing it." She disappeared for a minute and returned with a guitar that was kind of a beater compared to mine, but I tuned it up anyway and played while everyone else got drunker.

Eventually, Daryl's voice was in my ear, growling, "C'mon baby, let's go upstairs." He lost his balance for a second when he got up, so I reached out a hand to steady him. "'Night all," he said to the group, tugging my hand, leading me into the house.

Once inside the door, he pushed me up against the wall, kissing me roughly. "'Member how we fucked the last time we were here? That was fuckin' _sexy_."

"Yeah, it was pretty hot. Let's go upstairs. Henry's in here, and I think it would traumatize him if he saw us." I pulled him up the stairs, and he followed, his foot slipping off the step. _Oh my God, was he this trashed last time?_ I giggled. "You are _plastered_."

"Oh hell yeah, I am. Got a whole buncha shit to celebrate." At this point, he was pushing me into our bedroom, kissing me again. It took him two tries but he managed to kick the door shut behind us, then collapsed on the bed, pulling me down on top of him. "You know I love ya, darlin'. Yer a fuckin' amazin' woman. An' we're gonna have a baby an' get married an' live…." His words trailed off, and seconds later he was snoring.

I just shook my head, grinning at his suddenly unconscious face, and proceeded to yank off his boots. He was completely dead weight at this point, so I wasn't even going to try to get his clothes off of him. I changed for bed and climbed in next to him. "C'mon love, shove over," I said, pushing on him. He rolled onto his side, and I curled up behind him, wrapping my arm around him and kissing him on the back of the neck. "Love you, babe."

"Mhmmmh, love you, too," he muttered before he fell back to sleep.

0000000

In the morning, I was happy to report that _I _was one of the un-hungover ones this time. Daryl was clearly miserable, as were Randy and a couple of the others. When Henry came down to breakfast, kitten in tow, he looked around at the green faces at the table, wondering, "Jeez, did you all get the flu or something?"

"Somethin' like that," Daryl muttered, his head in his hands.

"Hey, Daryl, did you see the kittens? This one is my favorite. I'd like to name her Katniss, after the girl in the _Hunger Games_. Wouldn't that be a great name? Because it has the word 'cat' in it, but it's _also_ a character from a book!" Henry jabbered.

Not looking up, Daryl mumbled, "Yeah, that would be great."

"Hey, now don't get too attached to that cat. It's not actually yours," I interjected.

"He's welcome to it," Tisha told us. "We have too many as it is."

_Grrr, she is __not__ helping_. Henry glanced eagerly at me, but I told him, "I don't know how we'll get it home, is all. You can't very well keep a kitten in your lap for twelve hours. She'll run away."

"I bet Daryl could figure out a way to do it," Henry stated confidently. "Right, Daryl?"

Daryl looked like he wished we'd all just shut up, but to my complete surprise and immense annoyance, he told Henry, "Yeah, we can prob'ly figure somethin' out."

And that is how we ended up listening to the song of the cat people for the last leg of our journey home. Tisha located a wooden crate and a piece of chicken wire, which Daryl attached as securely as possible to the saddle of Henry's horse. Katniss clearly didn't feel so secure because the minute we got out on the road, she started up this mewling cry that made Daryl regret his part in helping Henry bring the damn thing home.

Now that I was riding with Daryl, there was no way for me to resist needling him about it. "You realize you are getting exactly what you deserve, right?"

"Quiet, woman," he growled.

"Nothing like a yowling cat to soothe your throbbing head, huh?" I teased him. He just grumbled something unintelligible in response. I tilted my head back and kissed him on the chin.

We soon realized that a distressed kitten drew a lot of unwanted attention from the locals, meaning walkers. I was dreading the thought of telling Henry that we had to leave his already beloved Katniss at the next stop, but thankfully, he figured out that if he put the crate in front of him and cooed at her as we rode, it calmed her down and more importantly, shut her up. Of course, that meant we were subjected to Henry baby-talking to the kitten, but we decided it was a worthy trade off.

Stopping only once to stretch our legs and a few more times to slay some walkers, we made very good time and were at the gates of our home by nightfall. It almost felt like a dream when I heard a chorus of "They're back!" from along the guard wall. Liza and Andy threw open the gate for us, and my legs gave out from relief and exhaustion as they helped me down off the horse. We were quickly swallowed by a mass of hugs and kisses and shouts of relief, as more and more of our friends came to welcome us back.

My best friend Marie fought her way through to me. "Seriously people, get out of my way!" she shouted. When she got to us, she bitched at Daryl, "Goddammit, Gun Show! You told me you'd have her back here in a _week_!" She didn't wait for a response from him before giving me a giant, wonderful hug. "Jesus, woman, you do not even _understand_ what a basket case I've been."

"I am _so_ glad to be home. It feels like I've been gone for a decade," I said, my voice muffled by her shoulder.

"Hey, is that _Henry_?" Marie asked, looking over at an _extremely _anxious Henry. He was still on his horse and holding on to Katniss for dear life, as she was also not happy with the commotion and was trying to make a break for it.

"Oh shit, Henry! Let me go get him squared away, and I'll come back," I told her, heading quickly over to him. "Dammit, Henry, I'm sorry. I was just so excited to see everyone." He didn't respond, instead just staring into the distance, trying to keep a grip on the kitten. "OK, here, put Katniss back in the crate. That will make her feel better. Now, give me the crate and you can climb down off the horse," I told him, coaching him through the steps. "We're going to go back to my place, so you and Katniss can get settled in. Does that sound like a plan?" He nodded mutely, following me. Daryl saw what I was up to and just nodded. He could explain to everyone what was going on.

Walking down the rows of storage units that were the homes of the people in our town, I started to feel lighter and lighter, until I had to look to make sure my feet were on the ground. Opening the door to the home I'd left only a month ago, it was such a comfort to see things exactly as we'd left them. "This is where Daryl and I live," I explained to Henry, turning on a lantern on the table. Henry still didn't say anything, but I could tell from his posture that he was starting to relax a little. "Do you want me to stay here with you, or do you just want to have Katniss for company?"

"Katniss," he mumbled, opening the lid of the cage to free her. She immediately took off under the bed, and Henry pressed his cheek to the floor, cooing again to try to coax her out.

"OK, we'll be back in a little bit," I told him, but he wasn't paying attention to me any more. Back outside, I nearly skipped back to where everyone was crowded around Daryl. I beamed as I looked around from face to face, not fully understanding until now that however much I _thought_ I'd missed them, it wasn't even close to how much I _actually_ missed them. Hershel had noticed Daryl's sling and was already giving him a once over. Maggie was holding little Rick, who seemed to be enormous compared to when I left, and it made me decide that our news couldn't wait. "Hey Daryl, come here." I looked around, "Marie! Get your ass over here. We've got some news." Daryl came up to me and slipped his arm around my waist. "Do you want to do the honors, or do you want me to?" I asked him.

Daryl grinned out at the sea of expectant faces and drawled, "Oh, I dunno. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow."

We heard a bunch of groans from our audience, and Carl yelled, "C'mon, out with it already!"

I was having fun with this, so I grinned back at Daryl and said, just loud enough for everyone to hear, "Maybe we should wait. It _is_ pretty big news to tell people you're knocked up."

Marie shrieked, "WHAT?! You're _pregnant_?"

I just nodded, and once again we were enveloped by our friends. Marie was typically sarcastic. "Ugh, I guess that means it's time for _me_ to go ahead and have a baby, too, so I'm not left out of all the _fun_." Then she gave me a hug again and a smile. "Congratulations, Stella. I'm seriously so, _so_ happy for you."

Maggie was ecstatic. "Little Rick is going to have a little buddy!" she crowed.

Carol was more sweet in commenting, "You know, I've always thought Daryl would make _such_ a good dad. I'm so glad you two found each other." I knew from what the others had said that once upon a time, people figured that Daryl and Carol would end up together after he'd worked so hard to find Carol's daughter when she was lost. Daryl said they were just good friends and that he'd tried to help her through a rough time. I'd always felt slightly awkward around her even though that was all so long ago, so it was really awesome to hear her kind words.

Everyone came up with a hug for me and a slap on the back for Daryl accompanied by the most enthusiastic of congratulations. Despite our exhaustion, we couldn't go to bed. We sat around until the crowd dwindled down to just our core group: Marie and her husband Matt, Carl and Beth, Maggie and Glenn (Hershel took Little Rick home), our friend Tom, and Daryl and I. At this point, we didn't have a whole lot more to say; we had given everyone kind of an overview of our adventures, but didn't go into a great deal of detail because we just didn't have the energy for it yet. No one asked about why Henry was the only one who came home with me - I'm sure they figured out why, given the circumstances.

It was nice to sit around with our friends, who I should really call our family, and make idle chit chat about nothing of any real importance. The girls wanted to talk about my pregnancy and how Daryl proposed. The guys were curious about how Daryl managed our escape from Pegasus and survived a night in the woods. It was delightfully conventional, and after a while I started to doze off on Daryl's shoulder, listening to the conversations going on around me.

"C'mon, Funny Girl," Daryl said in my ear. "Let's walk on home."


	18. Chapter 18

**Stella gets a happily ever after**

"So you know we're getting married tomorrow, right?" I whispered in Daryl's ear early one morning at the end of October.

He grinned at me sleepily. "Fuck yeah. Can't come soon enough," he said, pulling me closer.

Now that we were settled back into our lives at home, we decided we might as well go ahead and get married before I got big as a house. Not only had we gotten comfortably into our routines, Henry was also very happy with his new home. He had his own apartment, and no one fought him on keeping Katniss. He was assigned to a job here that we called the tinkerers, which were the people whose job it was to build new things out of the old things we reused. It was a perfect fit. Henry spent most of his time either at work, or at home reading or playing with Katniss. Some people might think it was a sad and lonely existence, but it was everything that Henry wanted. He stopped by to see us periodically, too, but it was mostly to tell Daryl some bit of information he'd learned or to ask him a question. Sometimes I wished that Henry came to see _me_, but as Daryl pointed out, Henry was a teenage boy and sisters really aren't that interesting to teenage boys.

Our respective supervisors had given both of us the day off to "get ready" for the wedding, but honestly there wasn't that much to do. Weddings nowadays were pretty simple. You didn't have to rent a hall or track down a band or caterer. The kitchen staff was going to throw us a party. Natalia, the kitchen manager, assured me that everything was taken care of on that end. Daryl and I had to locate some clothes that would be suitable, but it wasn't anything along the lines of tuxedo and giant white dress. We just asked around until we found someone who could lend us what we were looking for.

After breakfast, Daryl went to see Gollum about some rings. The guy's name was actually Dwayne, but he really liked to buy up the jewelry that people didn't want or the stuff that came in with our scavenging parties so someone gave him the nickname Gollum, and it stuck.

"Seriously," I asked him, "you are just _now_ taking care of that?" I was just teasing, though. Honestly, I didn't care one way or another about having a ring, but Daryl really wanted them.

"Well, it ain't like he's gonna run out or anythin'," Daryl replied. "Not like there's a buncha people in the market for rings in these parts."

I smiled at him and leaned in for a kiss. "I'll see you later then. I guess I'm going down to the garden to see what's up there." I watched him lope away with a little sigh. I may not have seen the need for a wedding in the first place, but now that it was on the horizon, I did think it was pretty fucking awesome. Returning my dishes to the kitchen, I headed down to the garden.

This time of year was pretty quiet in the garden. The main crops had been harvested already, and the only veggies left in the garden were pumpkins and some other winter squash and things like cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, which didn't mind the cold so much. I still wished I had had enough time to learn more about the Pegasus garden because I'm sure they had all sorts of ways to keep growing well into the colder weather. And that made me pause, wondering once again how things worked out there. I hoped that if nothing else, Gabriela, Tomas and Kendra were at least doing OK. I shook my head, breaking my reverie, and went into the shed.

"You are so wrong," Marie was saying as I walked in. "It's _totally_ going to be a girl!"

Maggie retorted, "Oh, uh-uh. I _know_ it's going to be a boy." They both looked up at me as I came in and grinned at them. "Just so you know, Marie has got a little pool going where people are taking bets on the sex, weight, and due date for your baby."

Raising an eyebrow, I asked Marie, "It's a little _early_ for that, isn't it?"

She shrugged. "Gives me something to do."

One of my favorite things at work these days was just getting to hang out with Marie and Maggie. A couple of nights ago, they'd thrown me a bachelorette party of sorts. Daryl went off with the guys, and Maggie, Beth, and I, along with a couple other of the younger women from our town went to Marie's house. It was a little disappointing not to be able to drink along with them, but Maggie was breast-feeding, so she kept herself under control and kept me company. It was fun to just sit around and talk about girl stuff. I had to drop my bombshell about having my hands on an actual _case_ of tampons at one point on our journey that I wasn't able to bring back with me, which brought out a chorus of groans and moans among the group. _That _led us to a rather detailed and sometimes gory discussion of all of the things that sucked worse about being a woman now since we didn't have some of the advancements of the modern society we grew up in. All in all, I had a blast.

"So why are you here," Maggie asked. "Aren't you off today?"

"Yeah, but there's nothing I need to do. It's crazy to think about how different this wedding will be than my last one," I commented. "Trust me, I don't miss the insanity that went along with that one. Marie remembers how I was. Tell her."

"Oh my God, Stella was a _basket case_," Marie said, rolling her eyes. "She couldn't sleep for weeks before hand because she kept worrying she was forgetting something. She was driving everyone crazy with all her questions: the caterers, photographers, the _priest_, everyone!"

Maggie smiled. "Sometimes I wish Glen and I could have had a big old wedding, too, but really it was so much more special just to have it with our small group with Dad doing the ceremony."

"I'm glad he's going to do the honors for us," I told her, and then after a thought, added with a laugh, "although I guess who's to say what's 'official' any more. I mean, Marie and Matt got married, they just stood up in front of everyone and pretty much said, 'Hey we're married!' No one's going to argue with that."

"Kinda funny how there's something about us that makes us want to tie up that loose end, though, isn't it?" Marie commented and Maggie and I nodded.

"The _only_ thing that I wish is that Dad was here to see it," I said with a sigh.

Marie smiled. "Your dad would've _loved_ Daryl."

I knew that, but it made me feel good to have someone else confirm it for me. "Yeah, he would have."

0000000

The next morning when I woke up, Daryl wasn't in bed. Feeling slightly panicked, I pulled a on sweatshirt and went outside. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been too odd for him to have gotten up earlier than me but given that it was our wedding day, I had to admit it made me a little nervous. To my relief, he was sitting on our front patio, smoking a cigarette.

"You must have a magic pack that keeps regenerating cigarettes," I commented, sidling up next to him. It was a chilly morning, so I pulled his arm around me to keep me warm. "Everything OK?"

After a minute, Daryl replied, "Yeah, just thinkin'."

"Want to fill me in on it?" The little tickle of anxiety had returned, but I tried to keep my voice light.

"Well, are ya sure you wanna go through with this?"

"What, get married? Don't tell me you're changing your mind!" The anxiety morphed back into panic now.

"Me? Hell no, I ain't changin' my mind. But I feel like I may have kinda roped ya into it and all." Daryl stared out at the trees beyond the fence.

_Whew_. Now that I knew he wasn't backing out, I could relax. "Well, maybe a little," I joked, "because it was hard to see myself tied down to one guy and all. I'm not gonna lie, it's going to put a crimp into my party-girl lifestyle, but I think I can make the sacrifice."

Daryl grinned at me. "Jesus, you're such a smartass."

"Better than being a dumbass, right?" I put my hand on his cheek, turning his head so he was looking at me. "There is nothing I want more than to be married to you, got that? I love you, you know?"

"I love you, too, Funny Girl." He kissed me, his mood seeming a little lighter. I could tell there was more to it, though, so I waited for him to continue. "I'm sorry this ain't gonna be much of a wedding. Probably not near as fancy as your other one."

And there it was. I had gathered over the past few weeks that this idea that our wedding was going to come in second place to my wedding to Ty was kind of weighing on him. I'd tried to reassure him before, and I did it again. "This wedding is going to be _perfect_. It is exactly what I want. I get to marry an incredibly sweet, tough, protective, intelligent, smoking hot guy. What the hell else could I want?" I stared into his eyes for a second to let him know how serious I was about this. "A dress, and a limo, and a big fancy cake are all just pointless fucking distractions. We're lucky because we get to focus on the important parts: me and you, and all our friends who are going to celebrate with us. So tell me, what else could I _possibly_ be missing out on?"

Daryl answered my question by folding me up in his arms, and I could tell that I had alleviated any lingering doubts he might have had. As he kissed me again, we heard Marie's voice coming from down the road, "Save it for tonight, lovebirds!"

Marie and Maggie were coming up the road, each carrying a bag. They were going to help me get ready for the wedding, which wasn't until 1:00. "You guys are a little early, aren't you?" I asked.

"We came to get Daryl to clear out. He's not supposed to see you before the wedding, remember?" Maggie reminded me. "So go on, get," she said, shooing Daryl out.

"Gettin' kicked out of my own fuckin' house." Daryl pretended to be annoyed. "Think your brother's up yet? I got all my shit stowed at his place," he said, kissing me.

"Henry's probably been up for hours. I'm sure he's been too excited to sleep since he knew you were coming over," I teased. "I'll see you in a few." As he headed off down the road, Marie and Maggie hustled me into the house to get ready.

0000000

As it got closer and closer to one o'clock, I wasn't sure if I was more nervous or more excited. Probably a little from column A and a little from column B. Maggie went back home to get ready, and then she would head down to the ceremony with Glenn and little Rick. Marie had brought a change of clothes with her and was going to keep me company the whole way.

"I would have spent my life a whole lot uglier if it wasn't for you," I told her. I think she had prepped me for every special occasion since I'd met her in our freshman year of college. What blew me away was that she _still _could make me look amazing, even without all the tools that she once had.

Marie had put a bunch of little braids in my hair and then pulled it all back into a loose bun. When we first got back from our journey, I mentioned to her what Kendra was using for make-up, and she quickly got to work on experimenting with making her own. So I got to be the benefactor of that, as Marie darkened my eyes and lashes and finished with some lipstick made with blackberries and beeswax. "I look amazing. Thank you!" I told her, giving her a hug.

She just smiled and went back to getting herself ready. I put on my dress, which was a gorgeous deep green. Honestly, I looked like I was dying of TB or something in white anyway, so I was not sad in the slightest that no one had a white dress to lend me. My dress was tight enough that it was pretty obvious I was pregnant, but I didn't really care. Not like it was a big secret or anything. The neck came down into a V, which according to Marie, made my "boobs look fabulous." While the dress was a hair too small, my shoes were just a smidge too big. My friend Liza had lent me a gorgeous pair of heeled, knee high boots that were in mint condition. The earrings I borrowed from Marie were chains of silver circles which brushed my neck as I moved. The final touch was a necklace on which I'd strung the ring that Daryl had given me back at Pegasus.

"About time to go, chica," Marie said to me, giving me a once-over. She actually became serious for a minute and told me, "You really do look gorgeous. And happy. I'm so, _so_ glad to see you happy again." Getting teary, I gave her a long hug until she said, "Jesus, those hormones are making you so fucking sappy! Stop, or you'll ruin your make-up."

I laughed. "OK, let's go." It was hard just to walk down to the field where people were gathered; I would have run if I wouldn't have looked like a fucking idiot. I had tried to get Henry to walk me up the aisle, as it were, but unsurprisingly he refused. In the end, Marie was just going to accompany me to where everyone was sitting, and I'd finish the walk on my own.

As we approached the group, I was shocked at just how gorgeous everything turned out to be. The weather was perfect, crisp and sunny with an amazing dark blue sky, like you only see in fall. Someone had brought in hay bales for everyone to sit on, and everywhere were pumpkins and bunches of fall wildflowers. Beth came up to me with a bouquet for me to carry – I'd totally forgotten about flowers. It was a mix of purple and deep yellow-orange.

I gave her a hug. "Thank you. These are beautiful."

"I'm so happy for you guys!" she gushed. "You two are just perfect for each other." She started tearing up now and quickly went back to sit with Carl. "Come on, Judith. Come back with us," she called. Judith was up front talking to Daryl. He gave her a hug and then sent her back to her seat, straightening up.

"Oh my fucking God, does he clean up nice," Marie whispered to me.

I had to agree. Daryl wasn't in a suit, but had on a collared shirt and an actual _tie_, with a dark pair of jeans and his ever-present boots. "Maybe we can just skip this whole thing, and I can take him back to our place right now," I whispered back.

Marie giggled, gave me another hug, and then a gentle push up the aisle that ran between the hay bales. Seeing the look on Daryl's face when he finally caught sight of me made me wish the only time for something from my old wedding: a photographer. His expression started off as completely stunned and then morphed into a giant grin which I couldn't help but mirror back to him. When I was finally standing in front of him, Daryl said quietly, "What's happenin', gorgeous?"

"Oh, not much. Just getting married today to this totally hot guy," I replied with a smirk.

Hershel was standing there, shaking his head slightly. "Y'all are two peas in a pod, aren't ya?"

I gave him a hug. "Thanks for doing this for us." Then I looked out at all of my friends gathered here for us. I couldn't resist making a joke. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I gathered you here today…"

Everybody laughed, and Marie yelled, "Get on with it! I'm starving!"

"OK, OK, sorry." I handed my bouquet to Marie, took a deep breath, and looked at Daryl. He grinned at me and grabbed my hands. To Hershel, I said, "Let's get this show on the road."

And then we got married. Hershel went through the traditional, "do you/do you" spiel, to which I said "absolutely" and to which Daryl said "hell yeah." We pledged to love, honor, and support each other. We exchanged the rings that Daryl had picked out which were very simple silver bands. Then Hershel pronounced us married, and then we kissed for so long that Carl called at us to get a room.

We partied all the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening. The kitchen kept the food coming, and Barney who made liquor and ran our town's bar kept the alcohol flowing. Marie, Matt, and Tom played music, and as it got later there was a massive bonfire and dancing. Daryl was dancing with me later on – well, not really dancing but we had our arms wrapped around each other and were swaying back and forth – when he held his hand up so that the light of the bonfire caught his ring. There was something about the sight of his left hand with a silver band on it that kind of made my breath catch in amazement. This incredible, unbelievable man was _mine_. I grinned at him, something I couldn't help but do all night. "Come on, let's get out of here."

We didn't make a scene or anything, just slipped away back to our place. Safely inside the door, Daryl started running kisses down my neck, murmuring, "God, I have such a fucking sexy _wife_." He stopped kissing me for a second, an expression of pleasant surprise on his face. "You're my _wife_," he said again, like he was trying the word on for size.

I giggled. "OK, _husband_, enough talk. More kissing." We were both quickly out of our clothes and onto the bed.

As Daryl worked his mouth down the length of my body, he paused at my rounded belly. Resting his head on my hip, he put his rough, warm hand on my stomach. "Y'know, we're gonna have the fuckin' toughest kid on th' planet."

"Well, yeah, look who the daddy is," I replied.

He lifted his head to look at me. "No, I mean, think of all the shit this kid's been through already. Ain't nothing gonna get him - or her - down." Daryl kissed my belly and then said, "And Mama's a pretty tough chick, too." Then the conversation ended as he continued his progress southward.

Once he had reduced me to a moaning, panting puddle, he thrust into me, surprising me with the force of it. I came again with a shudder and a cry and then he followed suit. Laying beside me, Daryl growled in my ear, "How was that for you, Mrs. Dixon?"

"Pretty fucking amazing, _Mr. Marshall_," I teased. He grabbed my left hand with his and held them both up in the air, admiring them in the dim light of the lantern. I sighed a little at the weight of it all and then asked, "Does it feel weird for you to wear a ring?"

Daryl thought about it, turning the ring on his finger. "Yeah, kinda. But it's good. Makes me feel anchored or grounded or somethin'."

"Yep, shackled to the old ball and chain," I said teasingly.

"Shackled to th' hottest ball and chain I ever laid eyes on." He started kissing my neck again and then stopped. "Guess we're gonna have to quit this kinda stuff soon."

"What? Why?"

"Well, it probably ain't good for a baby to have so much...jostlin' around, is it?"

I laughed. "I think the baby's got enough cushion in there that it won't even notice. Besides, something about being pregnant makes me super-horny, if you haven't noticed. I might lose my mind if we quit having sex."

Daryl gave me a wicked grin. "So does that mean you're up for round two?"

I grinned right back. "Are _you_?"

As an answer to my question, he flipped me over and fucked me again.

0000000

It was an overcast April morning, the first day of spring actually, when my water broke. Of course I was at work so I had an audience for the whole thing, but Marie and Maggie were there and hustled me up to the infirmary. The pregnancy had been pretty uneventful, and I'd started having some mild contractions the day before, which threw Daryl into an utter panic. He tried to get me to stay home that day, but I resisted, figuring it would be better to have something to keep me occupied.

The nice thing about living in a small town is that nothing is very far, so within minutes I was tucked into a bed in the infirmary, Nancy, the midwife, at my side. In another couple of minutes, Daryl burst through the door, looking adorably freaked out. "Holy shit, darlin'! Are you OK? I told ya you shouldn't go to work today!" He threw a panicked glance at Nancy. "Is she OK? Is everything OK?"

Nancy smiled serenely at him, clearly having seen her fair share of anxious new fathers. "She's fine. You need to sit down and relax. This could take a while."

But it really didn't. The contractions were brutal, and Daryl chivalrously offered up his hand for me to clamp into a death grip when I needed it. When Nancy told me it was time to start pushing, I did and within the hour, I had a tiny little baby girl in my arms. It was amazing and incredible and really there was no word to do justice to how I felt about this gorgeous, wrinkly, squalling mass in my arms. Daryl couldn't take his eyes off of her and was rendered speechless. He kept starting to say something, but would just trail off and then kiss her and kiss me.

After I'd fed her and she dozed off, we let the troops come in to say hi. Marie was first with a hug for me, a high five for Daryl, and a report that Carl was the winner of the pool. Apparently, he won a round of free drinks at Barney's bar. Maggie and Glenn came in with little Rick, who they introduced to our little girl as "her new boyfriend."

"So did you give the kid a name yet, or what?" Marie asked.

"Officially, she's Dominique Marie, but we're planning on just calling her Nicky," I told them.

"No shit?" Marie said, looking thrilled. To Daryl, she said with a grin, "Seriously, Gun Show, you agreed to this?" She gave me another hug. "It's beautiful."

"Nicky and Rick!" Maggie laughed. "They are totally going to end up together!"

After a little few minutes together, the first group headed out, and Henry came in. "Hey Spock," Daryl said. "C'mere an' see your niece."

Henry came over and tentatively peeked at the tiny face inside the blanket. Then he stared at me and then Daryl for a second. "She really doesn't look like either of you," he said decisively.

"She kinda looks like a potato," I told him, to which Daryl replied defensively, "Hey! She's beautiful!" I just grinned at him and then said to Henry, "We named her after Dad. Her name is Dominique, but we'll call her Nicky."

Henry smiled briefly, still studying Nicky's face. "That's cool. Well, I'm going to go now." He had done what he came to do, and he wasn't going to stay a minute longer.

"OK, Henry. Thanks for coming by," I told him.

And then it was just Daryl and me and I was exhausted, so Daryl took Nicky and I took a blissful, peaceful nap.

0000000

A few nights later, I woke up to hear Daryl whispering to Nicky in the dark. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but it sounded like quite a story he was telling her. I just sat and listened to the rise and fall of his voice for a few minutes before I turned on lantern next to our bed to just the barest glow.

Daryl looked over at me. "Sorry, darlin'. She was fussin' a little, so I thought I'd pick her up an' see if I could get her back to sleep."

"Don't mind me," I said, watching him coo over the little girl in his lap. I seriously could watch that for hours. Nicky started to cry a little more, so I told him, "She might be hungry. Bring her over here." He put her gently on my lap, and sitting there with Nicky and Daryl laying alongside us, I couldn't see any possible way my life could get any better.

**OK, so I thought this was it for these guys, but I actually had _one more_ idea for a fanfic about them. It's going to be called "Ain't It Strange" and it will be a prequel...kinda to the Post-Apocalyptic Dating Survival Guide. Not ready yet, but I hope to start posting chapters soon.**


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